


The Lost Dragon Slayer

by PraetorFable



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Death, Death, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Nightmares, Promises, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-01 20:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 57,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13302405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PraetorFable/pseuds/PraetorFable
Summary: Natsu sacrifices himself so that everyone is able to escape Acnologia on Tenrou Island and in his final moments, he had Wendy make him a promise. What was this promise and how will it affect Wendy during the seven years he is gone. She will have to go through many trials and challenges, but will she be able keep her end of the promise? NaWen





	1. The Lost Dragon Slayer

**The Lost Dragon Slayer**

**Summary:** As Natsu sacrifices himself holding Acnologia back on Tenrou Island, he leaves Wendy with one final promise. What was this promise and how will it affect Wendy during the years he is gone. She will have to go through many trials and difficult challenges, but will she be able keep her end of the promise in the end?

**Chapter 1**

**_S-Class Exams, Tenrou Island, Wendy Age 12_ **

Natsu glared at the enormous beast as it flew overhead, mocking the fairies below. His lips curved down into a grimace as the dragon swirled around and began making its way back to the beaten down group of Fairy Tail mages. It let out a loud, piercing roar that rattled the bones in all their bodies. Standing here now, he finally understood why Gildarts had suffered so much during his battle against the creature. Acnologia was a monster of immeasurable power.

Turning, he looked over at his comrades standing beside him, growling slightly when he noticed the look of terror on many of their faces. Makarov, their guild master, was asleep in Gildarts’ arms, completely drained of magic after his attempt to hold the dragon back. He shot a quick glance back at the dragon once more before turning back to his comrades, searing flames bursting to life around his hands.

“Go.” he muttered, drawing the looks of all the people around him. “Go!” he repeated forcefully, “I will hold him back while the rest of you escape! Just get back to the ship!”

Looks of shock and disbelief appeared on all their faces. Erza took a small step forward, her lips pinching together in a tight line. “Natsu do you seriously expect to be able to hold it back?! It withstood all our attacks and more… There’s no way that we can beat it.” While she had started out shouting, her voice had grown more somber by the time she finished.

The boy shook his head slightly as his entire body burst into flames, doing his best to ignore the searing pain erupting all over his body. “I’ll find a way.” he muttered, staring at the girl before him. “And did you forget my promise? I promised that I would defeat anything that made you cry.” As he finished, Erza gasped slightly, raising one hand to cover her mouth. Natsu turned to look at the approaching dragon one last time before looking back once more. “Now Go!” he roared.

Erza stared at him for a moment longer before giving him a slight nod. “Come on.” she started, turning back to the others. “Let’s not let this go to waste. Everyone get back to the ship!” Most of the members quickly followed Erza’s command, offering Natsu one last thankful look before starting to run, every one praying to make it back in time.

Gildarts, for one, looked at the boy on fire in front of him. The older man sent a quick glance down at the sleeping man in his arms before forcing himself to turn away. “Be safe, Natsu. That thing is unlike anything you’ve fought before.” Pausing for a moment, he continued, “I will take the master to the ship and then come back. Hold it off until then.” With this, he started running, leaving only a handful of people behind. The first being Gajeel and Levy, with the former leaning heavily on the smaller girl, barely able to stand due to the injuries he sustained earlier. He grunted softly as she shifted below him.

Turning away, Levy muttered a quick prayer as Gajeel kept his eyes on Natsu. “Don’t die on us, Salamander.” he spoke, before turning and limping away, rushing back to the ship. Natsu glanced back at the dragon that was circling above, seemingly taunting them by letting his friends finish their goodbyes. He growled slightly and looked back down to the rest of them.

Lucy was crying, with a few tears slipping down her cheeks. She took one last look at Natsu before turning and running past Laxus. Natsu met Gray’s gaze and they held each other’s gaze for a few moments. Eventually, Gray broke away and sent a quick nod in his direction before running away after Lucy, rushing past the youngest member of their team. Wendy stood by the side, hugging Charla to her chest tightly. “I can stay, Natsu-san!” she yelled, causing Natsu’s lips to curve up into a small smile. “I can heal you, and I’m a dragon slayer too!”

Natsu stared down at her for a moment, before letting out quiet chuckle. “Don’t worry, Wendy. Do me a favor and get back to the ship. Once I get back I’m going to need you to heal me.” As he finished, he took a small step forward and rustled her hair lightly.

The small girl shook her head slightly and looked up at the mage in front of her. “Okay.” she said softly, her lips quivering slightly. “Once you get back, I will heal you.” She gripped the small exceed in her arms even tighter before turning away. When she noticed a small figure staring at Natsu with tears in his eyes, she paused. “Come on, Happy. You have to get back to the ship too.”

Picking Happy up, she had only taken a few steps before she was interrupted by the last figure left the clearing. Laxus stood watching Natsu with an unreadable expression in his eyes. The blond had only spared the blue-haired girl a quick glance before reverting his gaze to the fire mage.

Wincing as he rolled one of his bandaged shoulders, he spoke, “Don’t expect any heartwarming words from me.” At his words, Natsu let out another small chuckle. “Just don’t get yourself killed.”

At those words, the light smile that Natsu had been adorning slowly morphed into a somber expression. He answered the lightning mage with a small nod before calling out to him, “Mind giving me a quick meal?”

With a smirk adorning his face, Laxus summoned the remnants of his magic and flung a bolt of lightning in Natsu’s direction. Feeling his chest tighten in pain, he let out a few labored breaths as he watched Natsu consume the magic. After receiving a quick thanks from the fire mage, he turned and began to limp away, waving a hand towards Wendy to get her moving.

As she watched Laxus continue into the forest, her arms tightened around the two Exceeds she held against her chest. Happy had tears pouring from his eyes as he watched Natsu stand alone in the forest, while Charla stared at her fellow Exceed in sadness. After staying still for to long, Wendy felt Charla tug lightly on her dress. And when she glanced down, Charla only gave her a short nod as she pointed into the forest with one paw.

Ignoring Happy’s cries, Wendy started after the rest of the guild. She had only taken a few steps before she was brought to a halt by Natsu calling out to her. Turning her head to look back, her eyes widened at the small smile on his face. “I need you to make me a promise Wendy.” he started, staring at the girl in front of him with dark, piercing eyes. While his slight smile was reassuring, his eyes were filled with emotion, making her words get caught in her throat. She nodded slightly, a small amount of dread starting to build up within her.

“I need you to promise me that you’ll get stronger. Even though you are already one of the strongest I know, I need you to promise that you’ll protect Fairy Tail for me.” As Natsu finished, he choked up and turned away, wiping a hand across his cheek. But besides that, he said nothing. With flames covering his body, he faced the dragon as he awaited an answer from the young dragon slayer. And after a moment, he heard her speak.

“O-Okay.” she started, her lips trembling. And looking back at her out of the corner of his eye, he knew that she was close to just breaking down right there. “I promise. I promise to get stronger so that I can protect Fairy Tail just like you!” As soon as she finished, she turned and ran, making her way to the rest of the guild.

As Natsu had heard those words a small, grim smile had appeared on his face. He knew exactly how this battle would turn out, and he was just glad that he would be able to save his family. Slowly, he turned and looked back up at the beast above him. It continued to fly in that circle, staring down at the lone mage below.

Clenching his fists, determination shown in Natsu’s eyes. There was no way he would allow this dragon to take him down without a fight. He was Natsu Dragneel! The son of Igneel! And he would protect his family with all his might.

Without waiting another moment, Natsu jumped up and let loose a pillar of flames from his mouth. “Fire Dragon’s Roar!” he bellowed. Watching the attack get closer, Acnologia did nothing more than shrug the attack aside. With a single flap of its wings, the beast soared down, raising its claw to strike the teen down. The roar the dragon released rattled Natsu’s bones once more. He had never faced anything near the power as this dragon. As he waited for the dragon to get closer, he felt the familiar tug in his gut as lightning crackled around the fire covering his hands, causing sparks to fly around the air.

As the dragon finally reached Natsu, it struck at the teen with surprising speed. For a creature of this size, he had never seen anything move that fast. Quickly brushing that thought aside, he raised his hand and blocked the gigantic claw with his own fist. “Lightning Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!” For a split second Natsu held the creature back, but Acnologia quickly let out another roar and pushed even harder, breaking through Natsu’s spell.

The flames around the pink-haired boy dissipated as he was sent flying back, crashing through multiple trees before rolling harshly to a stop. Without a moment to spare, Natsu shot back up trying to ignore the pain erupting in his chest and quickly dodged another swipe from the dragon. Seeing how easily the creature had pushed through his spell, a sense that he had never felt before started to arise within him.

Hopelessness. During the S-Class trials, Gildarts had finally helped him understand what it meant to fear. And while he knew from the start that he feared this dragon, this foreign feeling was something he had never experienced before. Not when he had fought Jellal, Zero, or even Laxus. During those fights he never lost hope. He always pushed through so that he could protect his family. But standing here now, before the self-proclaimed King of the Dragons, he felt hopeless.

Natsu grimaced as he let out a low growl. He wouldn’t let those thoughts stop him. He would fight until the end and make it back to the rest of the guild. Taking a breath, he covered his entire body in flames once more. Crouching down, he readied himself before launching himself at the dragon, winding his fist back. A roar escaped his lips as he struck, aiming towards the dragon’s side.

The dragon had immediately noticed the approaching and had turned to stop him, but with an extra burst of speed, the boy was too fast. “Lightning-Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!” He screamed as his fist slammed into Acnologia’s side. Flames quickly engulfed the spot, which was soon followed by a powerful bolt of lightning. Acnologia let loose an even louder roar before slamming its claw down onto the boy, effectively ending the attack.

Natsu’s eyes widened as he noticed the claw descending towards him, but still recovering from his attack, he didn’t have enough time to get out of the way. He let out a scream of pain as he was crushed against the ground. When the dragon lifted its claw, he wasted no time in pushing himself back to his feet and stumbling away as quick as possible. Spitting out some of the blood that had pooled in his mouth, he raised one hand and tentatively touched his forehead. Wincing, he slowly brought his hand back down to see his fingers covered in blood.

Facing the dragon once more, he crouched down into a low stance. He anticipated another attack from the dragon, but when nothing happened after a few moments, Natsu took a few steps back. The dragon had its head curved as far back as it could go, and it was staring intently at the side of its body. Natsu followed the dragon’s gaze and smirked when he noticed what the creature had been looking at. On the side of its body, one of the large pitch-black scales had been cracked. A long-jagged line ran from the top of the scale down to the bottom, with the two halves spread slightly apart.

Natsu almost couldn’t believe it. This creature had withstood all the guilds attacks, but he had somehow managed to wound the creature himself. For the first time in this fight, he felt that sense of hopelessness dissipate within him. As Acnologia turned back towards him, he got back into his fighting stance, ready for the attack.

But none came. The dragon just stared at the teen with rage burning in its eyes. And standing just a little way from the creature, Natsu felt like a pebble compared to it. If he wasn’t so paralyzed with fear, he was sure that his legs would be trembling. The pressure that the dragon was emitting made him just want to crumble to the ground, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to resist doing just that.

Acnologia let out a viscous roar. The force of it was so powerful that Natsu was blown back a few meters but managed to keep himself upright. Without sparing the teen a moment to recover, the dragon took off into the air and soared into the sky. When it was high enough to see all around the island, it turned and looked back down at its enemy. It released one more powerful roar as a bright light started to grow within its mouth.

Seeing the attack building within the dragon’s mouth, Natsu readied himself. His body erupted into flames and sparks once more. He never took his eyes away from the dragon, and while he had thought of running, the odds of him making it to safety were slim to none. And so, if he couldn’t make it back, he would do as much damage as possible before going out.

Natsu was momentarily blinded as the dragon finally launched his attack. He had never seen a spell this powerful before and braced himself as he watched the attack get closer. Taking in a deep breath, he started preparing his own counter attack. “Lightning-Fire Dragon’s Roar!” He roared as he released one of his most powerful spells. The attack from the dragon dwarfed the roar from the dragon slayer, but that didn’t stop the mage.

A small explosion erupted when the two attacks collided, and as the smoke it revealed that Natsu was holding back the dragon’s spell. Refusing to give in, Natsu pushed even more power into the spell, but it was futile. With the dragon slayer already being wounded from the fight against Grimoire Heart the attack quickly became too much for him to handle. With one final roar, the dragon doubled the strength of his attack, easily pushing through the teen’s spell.

As Natsu felt the last of his magic dissipate, he could do nothing but watch as the attack grew close. To him, it seemed as if time was moving in slow motion. He couldn’t help but think about how Fairy Tail was going to be without him. It was where he had grown up, where he had finally found a family, and it was hard to believe that it was all over.

Refusing to look away, the last thing Natsu saw was a bright light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 8/27/18
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed feel free to leave a comment and let me know! Feel free to follow my Twitter @PFWriting and/or @PraetorFable for updates on my stories! Thanks again!


	2. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu sacrifices himself so that everyone is able to escape Acnologia on Tenrou Island and in his final moments, he had Wendy make him a promise. What was this promise and how will it affect Wendy during the seven years he is gone. She will have to go through many trials and challenges, but will she be able keep her end of the promise? NaWen

**Chapter 2: The Aftermath**

As they ran for the ship, the rest of Fairy Tail watched in awe at the display of power from Natsu. While, it was clear that he was still far outmatched, the fact that he can last this long against the monster was astonishing. When they noticed Laxus running up to the ship with Wendy and the Exceeds close behind, a small patch of hope appeared in all their eyes. Maybe, just maybe they would all make it out of here alive.

Lucy and Gray had made it onto the ship only moments before, with the ice-user comforting the celestial mage. But no matter what he tried, it seemed that nothing could quell the flow of her tears. The other occupants of the boat watched the interaction with somber expressions. While everyone was feeling the effect of Natsu’s choice, it was clear that some took it much harder than others. Especially the members of his team.

Laxus landed on the hard-oak planks of the ship just as a few of the members finished lifting the anchor out of the water. Wendy soon followed, climbing onto the ship with the two exceeds still grasped within her arms. As she landed on the deck, a few of the other mages lowered the sails and held them steady as the ship slowly started to move. The heat radiating from the battle was almost unbearable. Beads of sweat dripped down their bodies as some gasped for breath. And now that the ship was moving, some of the members slumped against the side of the boat, trying to desperately cool themselves off.

But many of the mages ignored the heat, choosing instead to watch the fight between Natsu and Acnologia. In the distance, a trail of smoke and dust appeared. They watched as the dragon shot across the ground, raising his claw to strike. The dense foliage prevented them from locating their fellow dragon slayer, but with Acnologia being so large, they could see him clearly from the other side of the island.

An explosion of flames quickly followed by a large bolt of lightning striking the dragon’s side garnered their attention. It was clear that Natsu had struck back, and a few members even let out small cheers. A small smile appeared on Wendy’s face as she gripped the railing of the ship. Happy and Charla both stood to her left on the edge of the ship, watching the battle.

“Take care of yourselves.” A voice rang, causing many of the members to turn from the fight to find its source. Gildarts stood by the railing of the ship, with one foot already on the edge as he prepared to jump down. “I’m heading back to help Natsu.”

But before he could take the final step off, their attention was drawn back to the island as they heard a loud, piercing roar erupt from the forest. It was louder than the previous, which resulted in many of them covering their ears. All eyes went to the island, where they saw the dragon soar into the sky, leaving a trail of fallen trees and rocks in its wake.

It flew up, quickly circling around the land where the short fight had taken place. It opened its large mouth and roared down at the ground once more. Soon after, a pulsing light began to slowly grow brighter deep within its throat. And it only took moments before a beam of pure energy shot out from its mouth. Cries were heard throughout the entire ship. The power was unlike anything they had seen before.

As the ray of energy quickly approached the ground, a bright light shone from the island below as the temperature around them drastically increased. A smaller, but powerful pillar of flames and lightning launched up into the sky towards the dragon’s attack. Within half a second, it crashed into the dragon’s attack, with both pushing against each other in a fight for dominance.

The members on the ship heard another gasp, and they looked over to see Wendy with her hands covering her mouth. “That’s Natsu-san.” Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “It’s his Lightning-Flame Dragon’s Roar. It’s what he used to defeat Master Hades.” Many eyes widened as the watched the two attacks fight for dominance. The members on board felt a small patch of hope grow within their bodies. If Natsu was able to hold back such a powerful attack for this long, maybe he still had a chance to get back to them.

But, that small patch of hope was suddenly ripped from their hearts. With one final roar, Acnologia increased the power behind his attack, quickly overtaking Natsu’s and colliding with the ground. A large flash of light blinded all the members on board the ship, and many people were blown back from the force of the impact. As the members slowly regained their bearings, they turned their sights back towards the island.

Except, there was no island. Only a large crater remained in place of the island. Cries could be heard all over the ship, with everyone rushing to the side to look for their comrade. When a powerful roar rang out above them, they all glanced up to see the dragon roaring in victory. And as the beast’s roar died down, it turned and flew away, not sparing the ship a single glance.

With the dragon leaving, they all turned their attention back towards the ocean. A few members cried out once more, as no one could believe their eyes. The attack had been so strong that it had destroyed Tenrou Island. There was no trace of the landmass. If it weren’t for the gigantic crater of water that had formed in the place of the island, it would seem as if the island had never existed in the first place.

But as the realization of Natsu’s fate finally kicked in, no one said a word. Silence permeated the air, with the only noise being the waves crashing against the sides of the boat. They all stared at the gigantic crater that was slowly filling up with water. And after a few more moments, one person cried out. Wendy had run back to the railing and was gripping the railing so tightly that cracks could be seen spreading throughout it. “Natsu!” She wailed, tears sliding down her cheeks. And then, without sparing a single glance back at the other members of Fairy Tail, she jumped.

A few people gasped in shock and ran up to the railing to search for the girl. A few moments later they heard another splash and saw Erza swimming in the water as well. Gray joined in seconds later, who was quickly followed by Juvia. Soon, all the members were searching the waves for their lost member. Some chose to swim in the sea, while others had taken various positions around the ship.

For twenty long and tiring minutes, they all searched. Juvia, using her control over the water shot from member to member making sure everyone was alright. Slowly, each member that had jumped into the ocean requested to be brought back to the boat. Swiftly complying, Juvia brought every member back to the boat and soon everyone was gathered once more.

But they were waiting for one more person. Juvia had gone back out one last time to find Wendy, who had been swimming longer than anyone else. With the pain they all felt, everyone was able to sympathize with the girl. Natsu had been the first person she had seen as an older sibling. Natsu, the first other dragon slayer she had met. To lose him was devastating for all of them, but to lose such an important figure at that young age. It brought tears to their eyes.

Laxus was standing alone in the corner of the ship with a deep frown across his face. As he watched the rest of the ship mourn over their fallen comrade, he couldn’t stop his mind from wandering. It was clear that Natsu had been the center of the guild. Anyone who came to Fairy Tail knew who the fire dragon slayer was. While every single member of the guild was key factor in making the guild what it was, no one seemed to embody the guild more than Natsu. The lightning mage didn’t know what was going to happen when they made it back home but could say definitively that things were not going to go back to normal for a while.

On top of that, as he had been running back to the ship, he had heard Natsu’s final words to Wendy. The lightning mage would never admit it, but the words had hit him hard, and he was sure that the younger girl was feeling even worse. They had known that as soon as the words were uttered, Natsu had accepted his fate. _“I need you to promise me that you’ll get stronger.”_ Natsu had said, _“Even though you are one of the strongest I know, I need you to promise that you’ll protect Fairy Tail for me.”_

The words sent shivers down Laxus’ spine. The mage had accepted that he was going to die, all so that he could save his family. His eyes turned towards the hunched form of the iron dragon slayer. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if the man had also heard the words being spoken. And moments later as if sensing Laxus’ gaze, Gajeel turned and met Laxus’ eyes. The iron dragon slayer was currently comforting a crying Levy against his shoulder, but they started at each other for a few moments with neither saying a word before Gajeel grunted and turned away.

Laxus’ thoughts were soon interrupted when an orb of water appeared on the side of the ship. All members looked down to see Juvia standing next to the curled-up form of Wendy. The water mage quietly controlled the orb as the two landed softly on the deck. Wendy said nothing as she remained curled up on the ground with tears sliding slowly down her cheeks.

Erza quickly moved over to the girl before placing one hand on her petite shoulder and bringing her in for a hug. Wendy did nothing except turn her face and cry into Erza’s shoulder. None of the people on the ship said a word. With the only noise heard being the cries of the guild on board. Standing at the helm of the ship, Gildarts solemnly set the ship on course for Hargeon Port while the rest mourned.

After being soothed by Erza, Wendy had finally uncurled to reveal an item she had hidden within her grasp. Many people gasped while some of the cries worsened as they looked upon the scarf of the fallen dragon slayer. In between her tears, Wendy explained that she had seen it when she had been swimming through the water. She shakily brought the scarf up and help it against her chest.

Around an hour later, the guild master awoke. The old man had stumbled onto the deck of the ship, startled. It didn’t take the man long to realize that something wasn’t right as he looked around the ship. Turning towards Gildarts, the crash mage took the smaller man off to the side to explain what had happened. Minutes later the master returned only to stand in front of his guild in silence. He opened his mouth to speak, but when no words came out he only wiped a stray tear off his face and walked back into the cabin in silence.

The ship sailed on in complete silence. Wendy had moved over to an empty corner on the deck of the ship. She stared out at the ocean, an emotionless expression etched across her face. Sitting on the edge of the railing, her knees were tucked into her chest. Sighing, she rested her arms on top of her knees, refusing to let go of the scarf that was wrapped tightly in her hands. Since retrieving the item, she had not let go of it once.

Shifting her gaze down to the scarf, she let a few more tears slide slowly down her cheeks. Sniffing slightly, she brought the scarf close to her chest. No matter what, she would honor Natsu’s final words. Her frown deepened as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Those words had been repeating themselves in her head for the past hour. And it was beginning to drive her crazy.

 _“I need you to make me a promise Wendy.”_ That had been the beginning. When she had turned around to look at the mage once more, the emotion she had seen in his eyes had almost been too much. It didn’t take her long to realize that Natsu had known that he didn’t have a good chance of making it back to the ship. That he had accepted his fate.

She unconsciously tightened her grip on the scarf as her thoughts continued. But she refused to fail in fulfilling his final wish. If Natsu had been strong enough to stand up to the dragon alone, she would fulfill any promise he wanted her to make. _“I need you to promise me that you’ll get stronger. Even though you are one of the strongest I know, I need you to promise that you’ll protect Fairy Tail for me.”_

Those words, those were the ones that kept on repeating in her head. He had left the duty of protecting the guild to her. Everything he had done to protect their family, the countless battles and fights. He had placed his trust in her to continue that for him. Sniffing again, she wiped away the stray tears that had remained on her cheeks. She wouldn’t let him down. She would not break her last promise to Natsu.

* * *

They were five excruciatingly long hours, but the guild members finally arrived back in Magnolia. The townsfolk looked on in confused silence as the normally rowdy and hectic guild walked completely silent through the streets. When they finally made it to the guild and broke the news, word spread like wildfire throughout the town.

Silence permeated throughout the air. All in respect for the fallen dragon slayer. Natsu Dragneel was one of, if not the most well-known member of Fairy Tail. To many of the people, including many in the guild, he had seemed invincible, like nothing could stop him. And so, to learn that he had fallen, it had shocked many people. After reciting the tale of what had occurred on Tenrou, many had returned to their homes, and for the first time in years the Fairy Tail guild was completely silent.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 8/27/18
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed feel free to leave a comment and let me know! Feel free to follow my Twitter @PFWriting and/or @PraetorFable for updates on my stories! Thanks again!


	3. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu sacrifices himself so that everyone is able to escape Acnologia on Tenrou Island. Seven years later the island finally reemerges and the Fairy Tail guild heads out to search for their lost member. But after so long, no one knows what they may find on the lost island. Older Fairy Tail. Natsu/Wendy, NaWen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos! Make sure to follow me @PFWriting on Twitter for live updates and more about my stories!

**Chapter 3: Promises**

**_One Week Later_ **

_“One life on this earth is all that we get, whether it is enough or not enough, and the obvious conclusion would seem to be that at the very least we are fools if we do not live it as fully and bravely and beautifully as we can.”_

The tears slowly slid down her cheeks, her bright brown eyes clenched tightly in pain. She brought her hands up, wiping at her eyes to clear some of the tears, but it was futile. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop the tears from reforming. Sniffing, she let her hands drop in submission as the tears continued to slide down her cheeks.

Happy and Charla were by her feet, with the former crying uncontrollably. The white cat tried to console him, but it was useless. He had just lost his partner and father figure, and it didn’t help that she was trying to hold in her own tears as well.

“Natsu Dragneel was the embodiment of that quote. Never having been one to dwell on the failures, but instead having chosen to always look forward. To always prepare for what’s ahead.” The speaker choked up and turned away to recollect himself. This was one part of the job he never wanted to have to do. Losing a guild member is never easy, but to lose one so young, it hurt tremendously.

The entire Fairy Tail guild stood in a half circle around the small man. Cries could be heard throughout the entire group, and many had their eyes shut as they held onto their loved ones. Hearing the guild master choke up did nothing to ease their pain. It was hard for many to believe that the seemingly invincible Natsu Dragneel had finally fallen. That he wouldn’t burst into the guild any more demanding a fight, or that he wouldn’t be around anymore to cheer up any member who was feeling down.

It seemed as if the spark that lit Fairy Tail had died out.

Many of the other guilds had sent their condolences, with even a few of their members staying around for the funeral. Lyon Vastia and Jura Neekis were two of said mages. They stood quietly off to the side, their heads bowed in respect for the fallen mage.

“While we may mourn for a while, and while it may be tough, we must move on. Natsu would not want us wallowing over him, he would want us to continue as we were. And so, we shall honor him by continuing to make Fairy Tail the best it could be.” As the man finished he raised his hand and stuck his index finger up into the air. “Natsu Dragneel shall never be forgotten!”

Cries rang throughout the crowd even louder now. Team Natsu all stood together, with Wendy and the Exceeds standing in the middle. Lucy stood with her face buried in her hands, crying her eyes out. Gray and Erza both stood with empty looks on their faces, but if you looked close enough, you could see the tears slowly sliding down both of their cheeks.

Wendy’s silent cries continued as she watched the small man slowly get down from the pedestal. He slowly made his way over to her before placing one of his small hands on her shoulder. A single tear slid down his cheek as he nodded at her reassuringly before walking away, wiping away the tear with one hand.

Long minutes of silence passed until the rumble of thunder rang overhead. The gathered people took one long, sorrowful look back at the grave before slowly making their away from the cathedral, all seeking shelter to cover them from the storm. Their cries slowly getting softer as they made it farther away, and soon the only remaining people were those from Team Natsu.

Rain had begun to fall, pouring from the sky. The remaining group were drenched from head to toe, but it didn’t faze any of them. Erza slowly walked up to the gravestone before lightly touching the Fairy Tail emblem etched onto the front. She let out a small cry before withdrawing her hand and walking away, making her way into the cathedral alone.

Gray had turned towards Lucy and wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a supporting manner. Gently, he guided the tearful girl away into the empty streets of Magnolia, bringing her back towards her apartment. Charla had quickly taken the still inconsolable Happy into the cathedral with Erza. The white cat having kept one paw on Happy’s back the entire time.

And thus, Wendy was the only remaining person. Rain continued to pour down, but she didn’t acknowledge it. And now that she was alone, she cried out and fell onto her knees before sobbing into her hands. Through her tear-filled eyes, the only thing she was able to make out was the Fairy Tail emblem carved into the stone above Natsu’s name. She didn’t know how long she remained there, but it had to have been a while as Erza eventually returned and enveloped the girl in a tight hug.

Much like that time on the boat, Wendy cried into Erza’s shoulder. The small girl’s cries rang throughout the area, with the only other sound being the soft pitter-patter of the rain hitting the ground. Erza ran her hand across Wendy’s back to console the girl, but it was difficult to do when she was still trying her best not to break down.

The pair sat there for many long minutes, but when Erza noticed the girl finally begin to calm down, she decided to take the girl back to Fairy Hills. No words had been spoken between the two, but none were necessary. Both took in the other’s watery eyes and sorrowful expression. And as soon as they had arrived at their destination, Erza gave the small girl one last hug before going on her way, leaving Wendy by herself.

* * *

**_The Next Day_ **

Wendy brought her knees up to her chest as she sat staring out one of the windows inside of the guildhall. The soft pitter-patter of the rain hitting the window creating a soothing sound for her. Her hair was loose, flowing down to the small of her back. A small backpack was strapped around her shoulders, slightly covered by her hair. But if one was to look closely, they would be able to make out the end of Natsu’s scarf sticking out of the top.

It had only been one week since they had returned from Tenrou Island, but to the small girl and many other members of the guild, it had seemed like a lifetime. All missions had come to a halt, and for the first four days the guild hall had been completely empty. Only recently, with the conclusion of Natsu’s funeral, have people been showing up once more.

But it wasn’t the same. Words were scarcely spoken. Almost everyone who chose to make their way to the guild hall stuck to themselves. The bar had been shut down for the time being as well. It seemed like the guild was a shell of its former self. Some had decided to go on missions, trying to keep themselves busy so they would forget about their loss.

Erza had been one of the members to go on a mission. She had briefly paused to offer Wendy the choice of accompanying her, but the small girl had quietly declined. No further words were shared as the scarlet-haired mage left the building, most likely in search of their teammates who had yet to show up to the guild. Wendy had taken that time to move next to the window.

She didn’t feel like doing anything. This past week she had spent all her time cooped up in her room in Fairy Hills. The only other human interaction she had was when one of the fellow residents had retrieved her for meals and the funeral.

Her arms tightened around her legs as she stared dully out of the window. On the inside she felt as if she was falling apart, and she wanted to do nothing more than just sit and cry, but she couldn’t. This past week she had cried more than she ever had, and now she didn’t want to cry anymore.

Reaching one arm behind her, she withdrew the scarf that had been sticking out of the top of the bag. As she felt the soft texture, the frown deepened on her face. It was one of the few personal items of the dragon slayer they had left. Her hand clenched the scarf tightly, and she wouldn’t let anyone else have this.

Once again, her promise rang throughout her mind. It had been haunting her the entire week, and she needed to find some sort of relief. She needed to become stronger, so that she could fulfill the promise and protect Fairy Tail as Natsu had wanted.

Switching her gaze to the scarf within her hand, she delicately ran her other hand across its surface. She wouldn’t wait any longer. Starting tomorrow she would put all her effort into training. And she would do so alone, no longer would she rely on others to do everything for her. It was the only way to keep her promise, and she would prove to the guild that she can help them just as Natsu had.


	4. Recovery

****Chapter 4: Recovery** **

****2 Months Post-Tenrou** **

Mage after mage ran throughout the Fairy Tail guildhall, whether to take on another mission or grab a bite to eat and chat with friends. It had been two long months, but as the sadness and remorse slowly began to subside, the guild was finally starting to go back to how it had been. Members slowly started to take missions again, while others had resumed their previous jobs around the guild. If a new mage were to approach the guild, it would seem as if nothing had happened months ago.

But to the long-standing members of the guild, there was still a noticeable change. It was clear that while many of them were trying to go back to how things were, they couldn’t stop the brief moments of sadness that would wash over the guild. The brawls weren’t as lively, and there hadn’t been any parties in the time since.

Although things have changed, and it might have been hard for them to continue pushing forward, everyone knew that Natsu would not want them to continue mourning. They had been sad a long time, and it was time for them move on. Natsu would forever hold a place in their hearts and would never be forgotten, but they couldn’t dwell on what had happened forever. For the older members, it reminded them of the time they had lost Lisanna, and they knew that everyone just needed a slight push to get motivated once again.

So, the guild decided to turn things back around. Many of the teams were once again starting to take on missions, while other mages resumed their past positions in the guild. Mirajane could be seen working the bar with her younger sister Lisanna, along with the newly appointed Kinana. Gajeel had decided to stick around Levy for the time being and had accompanied Team Shadow Gear on the few missions they had gone on.

Team Natsu was the team that took the longest to start working again, but once they did, they were some of the most motivated and hardworking. After not working for so long, they turned their grief and sadness into determination. They completed mission after mission, seemingly never taking a break.

Erza, Gray, and Lucy had devoted much of their time to training and compared to a few months ago people were able to see a noticeable increase in their magic ability. Despite only having gone on a few missions so far, their reputation had grown immensely. None of their clients had ignored the lack of the energetic fire dragon slayer within their group. And word had spread quickly throughout Fiore of the famous Salamander having perished on Tenrou Island.

But there was one major change, and that was Wendy. While she had gone on the occasional mission with the team, much of the time she had chosen to stay behind by herself. No one had confronted the girl about her choice besides the team, but everyone expressed their concern over the younger girl. Wendy had unfortunately been one of the guild members most affected by the entire ordeal and it was clear that she wasn’t the same little girl they had known.

After declining the teams request for her to join them on a mission, she would leave the guild with Happy and Charla. She hadn’t told anyone where she goes or what she does during that time, but most thought it would be best to let her recover in the way she thought best. Many remembered the first time she had denied going on a mission with Team Natsu, where many had questioned her decision. After trying to ignore all the pestering, the girl had burst into angry tears before shouting at her interrogators and running out of the guildhall.

So, since that day no one had questioned her anymore. Everyone had been affected and had changed in some way, and whether she wanted to keep her reasons a secret or not wasn’t up to them. During the times she was seen around the guild hall, she would be wearing her usual green dress with her sandals, but there was one key difference. Along with those, she had started wrapping Natsu’s scarf around her neck. When the members first noticed it, she had received many sad looks, but once again chose to leave it alone.

Despite all of that, the guild members had noticed a slight change in Wendy’s character. It seemed as if the small girl had become even quieter than she had been before. When she entered the guild, she would greet her fellow guildmates, but after that she would sit by herself quietly unless she was approached by someone else.

Today was one of the rare days she had chosen to sit in the guildhall. She was currently sitting at one of the empty tables in the corner of the guild reading a book. Happy and Charla sat off to her side, talking to each other. Every so often, a few of the members would sneak a quick glance towards the girl but would do nothing more. A while ago Mirajane had gone up and brought her a glass of juice while attempting to start up a conversation, but it was clear that the sky mage was in no mood to talk.

As many of the guild members had learned, most encounters with Wendy would end up like that. A member would approach her with a question or to start up a conversation with her, but they wouldn’t receive much in return. Many wanted to help, but with the lack of response from the girl, no one was able to do anything about it.

But many of the guild members did not realize that there was only one member of the guild who knew exactly what was troubling the girl. Piercing grey eyes stared down at the hunched form of the girl from the second-floor balcony. The man let out a light grunt as he shifted around in his chair before raising his legs to rest them on top of the chair opposite of him.

Laxus Dreyar, the lightning dragon slayer, had been watching the sky dragon for these past months. He knew exactly what had changed the girl, and that nothing any of the guild members could offer would make any difference. That promise that Natsu had her make, it was affecting the girl in many ways, and seeing that he was the only other person to know about it, no one else was able to do anything.

Sighing to himself, the lightning mage ran a tired hand across his face. Two months ago, after the funeral, the master had approached him. When his grandfather had last spoken to Gildarts, the crash mage had requested one last wish from the guild master. That wish was to let him back into the guild.

His pride would never allow him to admit it, but he was grateful for the mage’s wish. During his time away, he had learned a lot, and he would not blow it again. Fairy Tail was a family, and he was able to see that now more than ever before. No longer did he feel as if he was stuck under his grandfather’s shadow. Natsu had been the one to help him realize all of this, and he would never forget the fire mage for it.

His gaze shifted back down towards the first floor when he heard some movement. His neutral expression slowly morphed into a frown as he watched the bluenette close her book before standing. She quietly brought her empty cup up to the counter and thanked the barmaids before making her way out of the guild with the two exceeds following close behind.

The frown remained on the lightning mage’s face as he turned away once the doors closed. Leaning back, he closed his eyes and placed his hands behind his head. He wasn’t entirely sure what the girl was planning, but he would be keeping a close eye on her. The girl may not know what she might be getting into, and he wouldn’t let her get hurt if he could help it. Especially since it seemed that he would be the only one able to help her.

* * *

“Wendy,” Happy called out, resting one of his paws on her arm. The bluenette marked the page in her book before turning towards the blue cat. When the Exceed noticed that he had her attention, he removed his paw from her arm before asking his question. “Could you go back to my house with me? There are a few things I still want to get.”

A small frown appeared across her face, but she quickly hid the bottom of her face behind the scarf that was wrapped around her neck. Going back to Natsu’s house was one thing she didn’t necessarily enjoy as it brought back many sad memories. But she couldn’t deny the small cat, as it was clear that he was still as sad as she was. He had refused to go near the house for the first month after Tenrou.

Nodding towards Happy, she silently closed the book that rested on the table before tucking it under one arm and grabbing the empty glass with the other hand. Walking up to the bar she placed the glass on top and thanked Mirajane and Lisanna who both nodded and smiled slightly in return. Turning away, she made her way to the doors before making her way outside, closely followed by the two exceeds.

It didn’t take them long to reach the house, and as they entered the living room, the first think Wendy noticed was the mess around the room. They had only been here once prior and that was only for Happy to grab a few things so that he could move in with her. Sighing to herself, she watched as Happy moved about with Charla by his side. He had a few things gathered within his paws, and she wasn’t all too surprised when she noticed that more than a few items were fish related.

A gust of wind interrupted her thoughts. Shifting her gaze over to one of the doors inside of the house, she noticed the door opening and closing slightly with the wind. Curious as to where the door may lead she made her way over, making sure not to trip on any of the mess. Reaching out, she placed one hand on the door and as she pushed against it, the door emit a loud creaking. Only putting her head in the room, she noticed that one wall was full of different items. They ranged from random rocks, to flowers, and even books.

Taking a step into the room, she slowly made her way over to one of the tables. Her initial glance had been lackluster compared to what she was able to see now. Various items of all kinds were placed all over the place. She ran her hand lightly across a rather small, but shiny rock that was laying on one of the tables. And looking to her left, she noticed a maid's outfit, and she could only assume that it was the same one Lucy had told her about in one of her stories.

Tears started to build up within her eyes as she continued looking at the objects. All these different items from the missions Natsu had completed. She could even see a piece from one of the lacrima they had broken inside of Nirvana. It was a lot to take in, knowing that years of adventuring were now over for the fire mage.

Happy stood off to the side, with a sad look etched across his face. Charla stood beside him patting his back reassuringly. Happy himself had been there for many of the adventures, and she couldn’t even begin to imagine how he must have been feeling these past few months. Charla had no clue what she would do if anything ever happened to Wendy. Her entire life had been devoted to making sure that Wendy grew up as best as possible.

Wendy continued through the room, passing memory after memory. She finally came to a stop in the corner of the room, where there was a small tarp covering something on the floor. Raising one hand to wipe the tears away from her eyes she couldn’t help but reach out and remove the tarp. Laying the cloth off to the side, she saw a small, neatly carved box made entirely out of wood.

Slowly reaching down, she gingerly picked the box up and placed it on top of one of the tables within the room. Happy and Charla, who had both heard the box being placed on top of the table had joined the girl on the table. Happy’s eyes widened as he reached forward to place his paws on top of the box. “Wendy…” he drawled out, his voice quivering. “This… This was Natsu’s most prized treasure. He never let anyone get close to it, even I have never seen what is inside.”

Wendy's eyes widened as she listened to Happy. Despite the despair that was churning within her, her curiosity had peaked. What could Natsu have kept that he wouldn't even have shown Happy? Not waiting another moment, she softly placed her hand on top of the latch that kept the box shut. Her gaze shifted towards the two cats and upon receiving two reassuring nods, she undid the latch.

The top of the box sprung open, revealing the item that had been hidden inside. Laying on top of a soft, purple cloth was a small, crimson gem. Bright red lines constantly flowed throughout the gem, lighting the crystal up. The red reflection of the gem shone in the groups eyes, and Charla had even covered her eyes for a moment.

Wendy was stunned. She had never seen such a beautiful gem before. Reaching down, she ran her fingers softly across the top of the crystal. As she touched the crystal, she was able to feel the heat that was radiating from within. It wasn't overbearing, but it was enough heat to make the girl feel uncomfortable.

“H-Happy,” The girl murmured, not taking her eyes off the gem. “Are you sure you don’t know what this is?” There was no response for a moment, but then Happy shook his head, “Aye, Natsu never told me what it was.”

It was hard to describe, but it was as if Wendy could feel the gem pulling her closer to it. She felt connected to it in some way, but she just didn’t know what it was. Removing her finger from the gem, she took a breath as she continued to stare at the gem. It was almost as if the gem was calling out to her, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t remember seeing anything like it before.

Shaking her head, she grabbed the lid of the box before closing it. Securing the latch, she picked up the box and put it back in the corner of the room. Once the tarp was neatly placed back on top of the box, she turned and made her way back towards the door. She would seek answers later, for now she had to work on cleaning up the house. A small smile appeared on her face. Even she couldn’t deny that Natsu seemed to have a hard time keeping anything clean or tidy.

For now, she would leave that mystery alone, but even though she had locked the item away once again, it almost seemed as if she could still feel the item’s pull. And she wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to follow me on Twitter @PFWriting and/or @PraetorFable for updates on my work!


	5. The Anniversary

**_Ten Months Later, One Year Post-Tenrou. Wendy Age 13_ **

One long year has passed since the events on Tenrou Island had taken place. By now, many of the guild members had fully moved on, as they were now able to start working once again without the reminder of their loss constantly hanging over everyone’s head. But despite that, the fire dragon slayer remained in their hearts.

But these past few days, the guild hall had been quiet. Only half of the usual members had shown up during this time. With many having decided to stay home, wanting to mourn the one-year anniversary of Natsu’s death alone. Others had taken the time to go and visit his gravestone located at the cathedral. And if not one of those, the individual had found their own way to grieve.

Besides the lack of Fairy Tail members inside of their guildhall, the master of the guild had made an important announcement one week prior. He had requested that every member be there, and to everyone’s surprise, not one Fairy Tail mage was missing. Nervous murmurs could be heard throughout the room, as many were left wondering what this announcement could be. Especially so close to Natsu’s anniversary.

The master had slowly walked onto the stage, quickly followed by every S-Class mage. Currently, Fairy Tail had only four active S-Class mages. Erza Scarlet, Mirajane Strauss, Laxus Dreyar, and last, the ace of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive.

The old man had wasted no time and got right into the speech. The first topic was Natsu’s anniversary, and that he understood if anyone wanted time off from completing any jobs. No one argued when they heard that. They knew that the master would be more than understanding if anyone decided to take a break, in fact, many had already taken the week off.

But the second announcement was one they hadn’t been expecting. Sure, the S-Class Trials normally took place around this time of year, but with the anniversary coming up, and after what had happened last time, not many had taken the time to think about them.

The master had declared that until further notice, whether it be next year, or in five years, the S-Class Trials would be put on hold. While this had caused some uncertainty to flow throughout the crowd, no one dared to argue against his decision. Many of them still remembered the terrible events of Tenrou Island like it had just happened yesterday, and no one wanted to risk experiencing that again.

Even if they had decided to go ahead with the event, not many would have felt up to competing. And with the lack of mages showing up to the guild this past week, that was only reinforced. While they had moved on and continued with their lives over the course of this past year, the date only served as a reminder for them about what they had lost.

Although the S-Class Trials had not been the only thing the guild had chosen to not participate in. Eight months ago, the very first Grand Magic Games had taken place. The Fairy Tail guild had gotten a formal invitation to participate in the event, but they had hastily declined. During that time, they had still been recovering, and the death of Natsu had still been fresh within all their minds.

The Lamia Scale guild had claimed victory that year, becoming the top guild in Fiore. Even so, it was still undeniable that Fairy Tail was the most popular guild, and rumors had gone around that if Fairy Tail had competed, they would have won. But these rumors didn’t affect Fairy Tail, they would participate when they were ready. And when they did, they would reclaim their spot as the top guild in Fiore.

\----

**_Three Days After the Anniversary of Natsu’s Death_ **

Over the past few days, Wendy had not been seen in the guild once. The day before the anniversary of Natsu’s death, she had been inside of the guildhall, talking quietly with Charla and Happy. But since said day had come and gone, it was as if she had vanished. Many were concerned, particularly the members of her former team. Lucy had once attempted to go and see the girl but had been quickly stopped by Erza.

“Don’t.” the scarlet mage had warned, one hand grabbing onto the blonde’s shoulder tightly. “It’s clear she wants to be alone. This past year has changed us all, and if this is what she wants, then we must respect it.” and with that, no further attempts had been made to seek out the bluenette.

Around six months ago Wendy had officially stopped taking missions with Team Natsu. Many would have liked to say it was a surprise, but the lack of the sky mage on many of their missions had not gone unnoticed. Many had assumed that it would only be a matter of time before she officially ended up leaving the team.

Since then, the young mage’s appearance at the guild had become sporadic. Sometimes she would appear at the guild three days in a row, while at other times she would be gone for weeks at a time.

Although it wasn’t as if they didn’t know of her whereabouts. After leaving her team, she had spent much of her time at Natsu’s house. What the young girl was doing, no one knew, but if they could keep tabs on her, they were satisfied. In fact, the girl had ended up spending so much time there, that it hadn’t even come as a surprise when she had announced she was going to live at Natsu’s house at Happy’s request.

There had only been one time when someone had stepped in to confront the girl, and that was when the girl had attempted to go on her first solo mission. The master had slowly walked up to the girl standing by the mission board. They had spoken quietly for a few minutes before the older man had taken the single paper from the girl’s grasp before quickly reading over the paper. And with a single nod of his head, he handed the paper back and the mage was on her way.

After she had left, the guild had confronted the man about what he had spoken to her about. “I told her that she was only allowed to take up to B-Class missions for the time being.” He had replied before taking a small sip of his drink. Many of them could guess that there was more to it, but they chose to leave it alone. If the master wanted to speak about it, then he would.

One thing that none of the guild members could deny, was that the girl had improved. While they had all trained, it seemed that none spent as much time training is she did. While she was still the quiet, shy girl they had all known, there was a new aura around her. Many of the S-Class mages had taken to keeping a close eye on her whenever she entered the guildhall, all to gauge how much she had truly grown.

But one thing that hadn’t changed since the day of their return was the scarf wrapped tightly around the girl’s neck. When people spotted that scarf, it always reminded them of what they had lost, and some didn’t know how she was able to wear it for so long with the constant reminder of what had happened.

Although no matter how much the girl had changed, the one thing that would always stand is that she is a member of Fairy Tail. They would continue to watch over her, even if she didn’t realize it.

\----

Wendy grunted as she slammed her fist down on the boulder once more. Narrowing her eyes, she repeatedly raised her fists before slamming them down, using the wind swirling around her hands to increase the impact. Raising her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, she continued to hit the rock a few more times before giving up with an annoyed growl.

Taking a small step back she looked down at the boulder with a frustrated glare. Crossing her arms, she gave the boulder a swift kick, only to wince when her toes hit the boulder. And after hoping around while holding onto her throbbing foot, she stood there, glaring down at the boulder. She didn’t understand why it was so hard to break. She had seen members of the guild do it before, so why couldn’t she?

“You are going about it all wrong.” A voice sounded from behind her, causing the small girl to jump up. Her head whipped around to look for the source of the voice, and it only took her a second, as the figure wasn’t trying to hide.

Laxus was leaning against one of the trees at the edge of the clearing with his headphones on and arms folded across his chest. He was staring directly at her, a frown etched across his face. “You are going about training all wrong,” he repeated. Unsure of what he meant, the bluenette continued to face the older dragon slayer, a questioning look on her face.

Taking a small step towards the girl, he shifted his gaze down to the boulder next to the girl. “Training in this manner will increase your physical strength, which is always good, but it will do nothing to help your magic.” Taking a couple of steps closer, the man’s frown deepened.

“I know about your promise.” He stated, causing the girl’s eyes to widen. She took a few tentative steps back until her back hit a tree. Looking back at the rock, she felt the disappointment and annoyance resurge at the lack of damage on the rock. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get it to break.

When her gaze rose to meet his eyes once again, she was shocked by the intensity she saw within them. He had moved even closer, and now stood in front of her by the rock. His arms were still folded across his chest, with his fur coat hanging from his shoulders.

“It’s what is driving you isn’t it?” He started, staring down at the girl in front of him. “You think you need to get stronger to fulfill that promise. Am I correct?” He had ended the statement as a question, but Wendy knew that he wasn’t really asking. She found it very difficult to look up at the intimidating form above her. She had never met Laxus before Tenrou, and even during this past year they had only spoken once. But she had heard about how strong the man was, and how intimidating he could be.

Taking a breath, she nodded her head slightly. Even if she was intimidated she would not back down. No longer would she run away from a potential fight. No longer would she-

A grunt interrupted her thoughts. Focusing her attention back on Laxus, she watched as he sat down and closed his eyes. Unsure of what to do, she slowly sat down and tucked her hands in her lap. The two sat in silence, with neither making a sound. Every so often Wendy would glance over in the man’s direction and would quickly look away again when she noticed he hadn’t moved.

It had only been a few minutes, but to Wendy, it seemed like it had been ages before either said a word. When he finally spoke, she jumped once more before turning to look at him. “You are serious, aren’t you?” he asked, staring directly at the girl. “You truly think you need to get stronger?”

Feeling intimidated once again by the man, she tentatively nodded her head. She was unsure as to why he was asking these questions, but she wasn’t going to tell him to go away. Raising her eyes to meet the man’s gaze, she couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous as he continued to stare at her.

The silence continued for a few minutes once again, but this time Wendy never took her eyes from the lightning mage in front of her. The two continued to stare at each other, with neither making a sound nor moving. And finally, Laxus closed his eyes and sighed, turning away from the girl.

“I’ll make you an offer.” He started, still staring out into the trees. “I will help you train, so that you can feel as if you fulfilled this _promise_ of yours.”

Wendy’s eyes widened. Out of all the things he could have said, she certainly wasn’t expecting this. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Laxus. “If you accept, you must do as I say. It will be nothing like anything you have done before, but it will certainly be more effective than this.”

With that, Wendy shut her mouth. Is this something that she wanted? Was he willing to help her train? She turned around to look at the boulder behind her again. While she had improved over this past year, she had not improved as much as she had wanted to. She was still struggling to break these boulders!

The sound of footsteps rang in her ear, and when she turned her head she noticed Laxus standing directly beside her. “The problem is not that you can’t break the boulder, it’s about how you were trying to break it.” Narrowing her eyes in confusion she stared down at the boulder once again, a slight pout forming on her face.

“What do you mean?” She questioned, taking a step closer to the rock. Laxus glanced down at the girl and smirked. “Oh, so you can speak.” A light blush appeared across the girl’s face, as her pout grew. The smirk remained on his face as he turned his gaze down to the rock as well. “You were trying to use your magic to break the rock, while also hitting it with your fist. Basically, you were trying to smack rock while the wind blew against it.”

Glancing at the girl out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the pout slowly being replaced by a frown. “Instead, focus your magic around your hand. Use it to give your strike the power it needs to break the rock.” The bluenette slowly raised her hand and held it above the rock. He felt the winds pick up speed around him as a small twister formed around the girl’s hand. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the winds swirl around her hand and without waiting another moment she struck the rock.

A long crack appeared along the rock, quickly spreading and creating more cracks across its surface. Moments later the rock shattered, with the jagged remains forming a pile on the ground. A victorious smile appeared across the girl’s face as she turned to look up at the man beside her. The man had a tiny smile on his face as he nodded down at her. “Good work.”

 The small smile was soon gone, and he was once again serious. “So. What is your decision?” he questioned, watching as the girl looked down in thought. She was silent for a few minutes, clearly thinking about his offer, but when she looked back up and met his eyes, he knew what she had decided.

Reaching her hand up to push the scarf wrapped around her neck down, she replied to the man’s question.

“I accept.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks for all the support! Please make sure to leave a comment and tell me what you think! Every single kudos and comment bring a smile to my face!


	6. The Ways of Training

****_Three Days Later, Wendy Age 13_ ** **

Laxus grunted as he dropped the heavy bag to the ground. He rolled his shoulders to stretch them out as he turned towards the young girl standing beside him. “Alright, get ready and start stretching. The training won’t be easy.”

Nodding her head, she silently moved away from the taller man and started to stretch her arms. Laxus watched her out of the corner of his eye as he took a seat on a fallen log. Reaching down he, unraveled the bag and grabbed onto the big jug of water inside. He swiftly brought it up to his mouth before taking a large sip of water.  
  


The pair of mages were currently located in the forest outside of Magnolia. Laxus had scouted the area out a few days prior in preparation for Wendy’s training. It was a decently sized clearing, with the trees surrounding the small patch of grass in a circle. There was space for a campfire and two tents to be set up later over by the log where he currently sat.

The two continued in silence for a few more minutes before the man finally heard the girl move towards him. Shifting his gaze from the bag below him he stared at the girl who stared at him determinedly. “Tell me what to do.”

Brushing his hands together, he stood up and started walking towards the center of the clearing. As they walked, he noticed just how small the girl was. The top of her head barely reached halfway up his torso. He was certain that if he stood still, she’d be able to hide behind him and no one would know.

“Alright,” he started, looking down at the girl. “First things first. Strength doesn’t just come from practicing rare magic. Your body must be strong enough to support the magic power in the most efficient means possible.”

The girl’s gaze shifted up to the man’s face momentarily before turning to stare at the ground once more. After a brief pause, she nodded her head in understanding before looking back up at him again, “What’s first?”

Smirking down at the bluenette, he pointed down at the ground with his index finger. “Conditioning,” he started, “Let’s start by seeing just how many push-ups you can do before collapsing.”

Wendy brushed a bit of the sweat that had already accumulated on her forehead as she got down onto her hands and knees. Pausing for a moment, she turned and looked back up at Laxus, but as she opened her mouth to speak she was interrupted. “No. You may not use your magic,” he spoke, causing the girl to frown slightly. She opened her mouth to try and speak once more but she was interrupted again. “No more questions. Start now.”

Taking a long breath, she lifted her knees and got into position. “Fix your posture. Your body should be flat, but instead you are curved up like an arc.” Listening to the man above her she quickly fixed what he told her to and began the push-ups.

“No. Your nose should be an inch from the ground.” She slowly starts to go back down and stops when she feels she went far enough. “Good. Now push yourself up as hard as you can.” She pushes herself up slowly causing Laxus to frown. When she pauses to breathe at the top when Laxus grunts, “Again.” She lets gravity bring her almost to the ground.

“Good. Now keep going.” Laxus states gruffly. She continues with her pushups for another few minutes until she can’t lift herself up anymore. With one final heave, she falls to the ground gasping for air.

“Good enough for now, but we will need to keep working on it. Now roll onto your back and bring your knees up.” The young bluenette slowly shifts into position as her breathing starts to slow. “Cross your arms and grab your shoulders. Then sit up while maintaining your form until your elbows hit the middle of your thighs and then ease yourself back down.”

Nodding her head, she attempts the first one, but her feet lift up and she falls back onto the ground. Without a word Laxus steps forward and puts the front of his feet on her toes, anchoring her feet to the ground. “Try again.” Pulling herself up, she exhales as her elbows reach her thighs before slowly going back down. She continues with this rhythm for another few minutes until Laxus tells her to stop.

The taller man motions for her to stand as he begins to move to another part of the clearing. Moving quickly, she follows him until she is standing in front of a few boulders, each varying in size.

Laxus tells her “I want you to start flipping the largest boulder you can across the clearing.”

Bending down she placed her hands under the smallest of the boulders. While it was still the smallest out of all the boulders that were lined up, it still went up to her knees and was just as wide as her. Taking a deep breath, she pulled up and flipped the boulder over, moving it forward. Taking a step forward she repeated the process again and continued to move forward.

She continued with this exercise for ten minutes, although it seemed like a lot longer to the girl. By the end Wendy’s arms felt like noodles and she could barely wiggle her fingers. Glancing over at the other three boulders lined up, she grimaced as she thought about how much harder those would be to move.

The girl stumbled over to the water and took a few large gulps from the jug. Taking a seat on the log that the jug had been placed next to, she couldn’t help but wish that she had been a water dragon slayer. Oh, how amazing it would have been to regain some of her power from the water.

Hearing some movement next to her, she looked back up to see the lightning mage standing beside her. “What do you think you’re doing?” he questioned gruffly. The girl chose to keep her mouth shut as she just continued to stare up at the lightning mage. Sighing quietly the mage motioned for her to stand and started moving to the edge of the clearing.

Frowning at Laxus, the girl winced as she felt her legs scream in protest at having to move once again. Hobbling her way over to the man, she looked up at his face to see a terrifying glint in his eyes. Swallowing her nervousness, she continued onward and came to a stop beside him.

“Now that we’ve worked your arms, it’s time to move on to your legs.” He spread his legs out and leaned to one side to stretch out the muscles. “We’re going on a run.” he began, before switching to the other side. “And we aren’t coming back until you can no longer walk.”

With that he took off, clearly running at a slower pace than was normal for him, but it was still fast enough that Wendy had to sprint to catch up. And it seemed that’s all she did throughout the run, was attempt to catch up to the older man. Speaking of the mage, it hadn’t gone unnoticed by her that he hadn’t even glanced back to look at her since they had taken off.

Overall, Wendy would say that the run was up there in her list of the worst things she has ever had to do. After almost falling multiple times and running into sticks and different obstacles, it felt amazing when Laxus finally led her back to the clearing and she was able to promptly collapse to the ground.

She laid there, heaving on the ground, her clothes sticky with sweat. Her legs felt as if they were going to fall off and it seemed like her heart was going to burst out of her chest.

Breathing heavily, she turns her head to look up at the mage standing casually next to her. He continues to stare down at her crumpled form for a moment more before finally deciding to speak up. “Go grab a drink of water. Come back once you feel you’ve rested enough.”

Sighing heavily, she places both of her palms on the ground before pushing herself up. After falling back to the ground a few times, she finally manages to make it back onto unsteady feet. She slowly walked back to the log, feeling as if her legs would give out at any time. When she finally made it, she collapsed onto the rough surface, grateful that there was something she could sit on.

After five short minutes of resting her burning limbs and trying to catch her breath, she stumbled her way back over to him. Feeling unsure of her ability to walk, she kept her eyes planted on her feet below to ensure she wouldn’t trip. And only when she came to a halt a few feet away from him did she finally allow herself to look up.

Laxus stood before her with his hands buried in his pockets. Never taking his eyes off the weary girl standing in front of him, he smirked. “Time for combat practice. All magic is allowed. If you land a hit on me, we’ll only do half as much as we did today for tomorrow’s training.”

That got Wendy’s attention. The prospect of not having to go through all of those trying and dreadful exercises gave her newfound energy. Nodding her head, she slowly got into a fighting stance, acutely aware of how her limbs were still screaming in protest.

Laxus removed his hands from his pockets and promptly waved the girl over. Wendy focused on the winds around them and shot towards the opposing mage. Closing in, she threw out a quick set of punches and kicks but wasn’t entirely surprised when he easily blocked all her strikes. She knew that she wasn’t the fastest mage out there, but when using her magic, she could move faster than many others.

Not deterred, she pressed on, lashing out with a few more strikes. Laxus seemed to opt out of blocking this time and instead proceeded to dodge each of her strikes. Withdrawing her last punch, Wendy took a step back and glanced over at the serious Laxus. When he had dodged her strikes, he had moved so fast that she hadn’t even been able to track him.

Deciding that it was time to step it up a notch, Wendy took a few steps back. Raising her hands, she felt the wind start to gather around her fists. And despite the slight rejuvenation she felt from the wind flowing around her, she knew that she couldn’t keep this up for long. All the exercises throughout the day had taken a toll on her body, and she could feel her power quickly fading away.

Rushing forward, she raised both arms above her head and swiped down. “Sky Dragon’s Wing Attack!” A gust of wind shot out from her arms and over to the still form of Laxus. The man didn’t even flinch when the wind reached him. Instead he raised one hand and shot a small bolt of lightning at the girl’s feet, causing her to jump to dodge.

Continuing with the attack, she advanced once again. This time she used the wind to push herself even faster. She knew that she would never be able to be able to land a hit with brute force, so she needed to rely on speed. Curling her hands into fists, she pressed on, throwing punch after punch, kick after kick, and to her growing dismay each one of the strikes were blocked with ease.

Jumping back, she raised her hand up to her head and wiped away the sweat with the back of her hand. Looking over at her opponent she was even more dismayed to find him standing in the exact same spot, with not even a slight wrinkle on his clothes to show she had landed an attack.

Her entire body was on fire, as if she was sitting inside of a fireplace. It was getting harder to raise her hands and press on. Taking a deep breath, she decided that it was time to finish the fight, if she didn’t succeed with this final attack, then she never would. Taking a small step back with her right foot, she took a deep breath, gathering as much air into her lungs as possible. And when she felt there was enough, she attacked.

“Sky Dragon’s Roar!” The wind shot out of her mouth like a hurricane. Leaves flew all over the clearing, getting caught up in the wind. As the attack approached, Laxus raised his hand and faced his palm towards the attack. As soon as the two collided, the wind split and flew past him, colliding in the trees behind him.

Wendy’s lips curved down into a frown as she watched her last chance be brushed aside like it was nothing. Glancing down at her shaking legs, she was only able to stick her arms out in time to catch herself from falling face first onto the ground. As she sat there on her hands and knees, the older man walked over and stopped in front of her.

“If you had not been so worn out at the start, you might’ve had a better chance.” he began, looking down at the exhausted girl before him. “This is one reason why I offered to train you. There will be situations where you will be exhausted before you may need to even fight. And if you can’t fight at your full power, then you may not be able to win.”

Sighing deeply to himself, he grabbed the small girl under her shoulders and lifted her up before placing her back down once he was sure she wouldn’t fall again. “We will be doing this every day, and when the day arrives where you can land a hit on me after a full day of exercises, we shall move on to the next stage of your training.” Pausing for a moment, the man turned around and glanced out into the trees behind him.

“That’s it for today. Go get some rest while I set up camp for the night.” Not believing she even had enough energy to nod her head, she turned and began the long trek over to the log. It seemed that throughout the day she had become more and more reliant on it. And when she finally made it, she flung herself on top of it once more, relieved to give her body some rest.

She didn’t know how long she laid there, sprawled across the log, but it didn’t matter to her. If she was done for the day and didn’t have to go through any more grueling exercises, she wouldn’t complain. Not that she would complain to the lightning mage in the first place. The intimidation she felt from the older man hadn’t subsided throughout the day and had just been reinforced throughout their training.

Sighing quietly to herself, she ran her hand down her face. Reaching down the grab the jug of water, she took a few big gulps of water before setting it down once again. As she continued to lay on the log, the pain she was feeling throughout her body slowly started to subside. Breathing softly, she closed her eyes and chose to remain there for as long as she could.

It didn’t seem like long, but eventually Laxus walked back over to the girl and tapped her side with his foot. Startled, the girl shoots up, but quickly winces in pain once her body flares up in pain. “Move over to the fire. It’ll be better than sleeping on this log.” A frown formed at being roused in such a way, but she kept her mouth shut. Gathering the water jug and the rest of the items spread around the log, she trekked over to the fire.

Dumping all the items haphazardly around the fire, she didn’t take long to spread out her bedroll and lay down. From the other side of the fire, she could see Laxus stirring something in a pot he had brought along with him. “Are you hungry?” The man questioned, not taking his eyes off the item in his hands.

Hesitating to speak for a moment, Wendy glanced once again at the pot in his hands. Now that she focused a little more, she could smell the soup being cooked inside. Hearing her stomach growl in anticipation, a light blush appeared across her face. “Yes,” she muttered meekly, glancing away at the forest.

Shaking his head slightly, the man stirred the soup a bit more. “Not one for many words, as usual,” he spoke, gathering the attention of the girl once more. He placed the pot on the ground before reaching to his right and grabbing the two bowls that lay on the ground. Pouring some of the soup from the pot into each bowl, he handed one to the girl laying across from him.

Muttering a quick thanks, Wendy lifted the bowl to her mouth and quickly devoured the entire soup. As she put the bowl down she noticed Laxus looking at her with a slight smirk on his face. “Seems like you were hungry,” he teased, causing the blush to return to the girl’s cheeks.

Sighing to himself, he threw his finished bowl across the fire to the other items sprawled across the ground. “Go ahead and get some sleep,” he started, unrolling his own bedroll. “You’re going to need it for tomorrow.”

Wendy placed her bowl next to his before slipping into the blankets and laying down. It had only been a few mere moments, but she could already hear the man’s loud snores echoing throughout the clearing. Trying her best to ignore them, she closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep.

* * *

Wendy shuffled closer to the fire that was crackling in front of her. As she stretched her hands out above the flames she winced as her muscles burned in protest. It had only been her first day of training and her body still seemed to be in more pain than it had ever been in before. She couldn’t even remember training with Grandeeney being this rough, and she was a dragon!

Her gaze shifted slightly to the man sleeping on the opposite side of the fire. His snores still rang throughout the clearing, and she silently wondered how they hadn’t attracted any sort of attention yet. A frown formed on her face as she looked back down at her hands. She didn’t know how long she had been asleep for, but she knew it hadn’t been long.

It had been this way for over a year now. Every night she would only be able to get a few hours of sleep before she would be awoken due to the nightmares. Normally each night was the same, her listening to Natsu’s last words again, or reliving the experience of Acnologia destroying Tenrou.

She had tried many different things to get a full night of sleep, from exercising to the point of passing out or seeking out Porlyusica for a sleeping potion. But no matter what she did, each night she would wake up terrified and soaking with sweat. She had long given up attempting to get a full night of sleep, and luckily, she had adapted to the few hours she would get.

Sighing quietly, she stared into the flames flickering in front of her. The flames brought even more memories of Natsu back, and suddenly the scarf wrapped around her neck seemed to tighten, as if trying to strangle her. She still did not understand why Natsu had chosen her. Out of all the members of the guild who had spoken to him last, she was the weakest of them all.

Erza, Lucy, Gray, Gajeel, or even Laxus all would have been a better pick. Why hadn’t he made one of them promise instead of her? Reaching up, she grasped one end of the scarf tightly in her hand. Would he have been proud of the training she had done? What would he have said about her taking the scarf?

Shaking her head slightly, she quickly stood up. Continuing to think about such things would do nothing but hurt her in the end. She had made the promise and she intended to fulfill it.

Taking a few small steps, she froze as she heard the slumbering mage turn in his sleep. Waiting a few moments to ensure he had not awoken, she quietly continued, walking into the darkness of the forest. She didn’t necessarily know why she was walking under the canopy of the trees, but she knew that it was better than staying next to the fire.

She curled her hands together behind her back as she skipped over the branches and rocks spread throughout the forest floor. Leaves rustled in the breeze, creating an eerie undertone. Taking a deep breath, she sighed as she felt how clear the air was. Despite how much she enjoyed being in the guild and town, she wouldn’t deny that the air there left much to be desired.

Thinking back on the town, she couldn’t help but think about how the guild had changed over the past year. The three months directly after Tenrou had been tough for everyone. Fairy Tail had been half of what it had been. The guild brawls had all but come to a stop, no parties had been thrown, many members either drowned themselves in jobs or just hadn’t shown up to the guild at all.

Many of the residents in Magnolia had taken notice too, and the town had even thrown a memorial for the fallen dragon slayer. He had been one of the most popular figures throughout the town, and while having caused some trouble in the past, it was clear that he would be missed.

And although a slow process, the guild had begun to morph back into its previous state. It had reminded most of the members of when Lisanna had died just a few years prior. They knew that they couldn’t dwell on the past forever and that they had to move on at some point.

Wendy ducked under a low-hanging branch as she continued, captivated by her thoughts. She thought back to her own days during that time. The days after the funeral had been the hardest for her. He had been like an older brother to her, always making sure she never felt sad and had helped give her confidence whenever she doubted herself.

When she compared herself to how she had been during the Nirvana incident, she couldn’t help but notice how much she had changed. While she had not become more shy or timid, she had become more reserved. During her time in the guild hall or when she was with her guildmates, she would rarely speak, opting instead to remain silent and listen to their conversations.

And in the end, all this change had been the result of one person. Glancing up at the sky she stared out into the endless abyss. She raised up her right hand and grabbed one end of the scarf tightly. Holding out the other, she squeezed her hand tightly into a fist. She stared down at her fist with an intense gaze.

This may only be her first day of training, and she may not be strong enough yet, but she would get there. She would get strong enough to keep her promise, strong enough to protect Fairy Tail, and strong enough to ensure she would never lose anyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	7. The Ways of Fighting

****_Three Months Later, Wendy Age 13_ ** **

Gathering the wind around her hands, she launched herself forward with a whirlwind spiraling out around her feet. Her opponent continued to stand still across from her, unmoving as the smaller girl charged forward. His large coat rustled in the wind but remained steady on his shoulders.

The trees shook and rustled as the wind continued to bluster around the forest. Leaves, branches, and twigs flew about the clearing, but didn’t affect the two combatants. The closer she got to the man, the faster the wind moved. And while feeling the usual ache in her bones, she had gotten used to the pain by now, and the results of the training were finally beginning to show. She was able to move faster than ever before, hit harder than she had been able to, and had steadily grown more determined to progress to the next stage.

It only took half a second for Wendy to finally reach him, and once she was in range she let loose a barrage of punches and kicks. While he had managed to successfully block every one of her strikes, it didn’t deter her. She had quickly learned that it would take more than just basic punches and kicks to break through his defenses. Although there was one noticeable difference from their fights a few months ago.

Before, Laxus didn’t even have to move from his spot to block or dodge any of her strikes, but now, she found that every so often he would have to take a step or bend his body in an unusual way to ensure she wouldn’t hit him. Focusing her thoughts back onto the fight, she quickly pushed herself away from the man using the winds.

Her feet slid across the ground as she came to a halt while letting the wind swirling around her feet slow and brought her hands up closer to her mouth. Puffing up her cheeks, she glared in the direction of the man who had brought his hands up in front of his body.

“Sky Dragon’s Roar!” she shouted as a tornado spewed out of her mouth. The condensed wind shot across the clearing at record speeds, and the man only had a moment before the attack was upon him. Putting his hands up he, pushed back against the attack, but just as he had started to notice a few weeks ago, he was slowly being pushed back. Planting his feet firmly into the ground, he continued to hold his arms up to repel the attack.

Feeling the attack dwindling down, he started to relax his guard. Squinting his eyes to see through the condensed air, he calmly waited for his opponent to make herself visible again. But to his surprise, before the attack had fully dissipated, the girl burst through the tail end of the attack, with the wind still swirling violently around her feet.

Swinging her foot up above his head, she smirked when she noticed the surprised expression on his face. “Sky Dragon’s Talon!” she roared as she brought her foot down on top of the man’s head. With the wind aiding the attack, she moved so fast that it was nearly impossible for someone to track it and thinking she had landed the hit the small smirk on her face grew.

But to her disbelief her foot never connected with his head, and as she managed to get a better look through the winds swirling violently around the two, she noticed he had crossed both of his arms above his head to block the attack. This moment of hesitation on her part gave Laxus more than enough time to wrap his hands around her ankle and fling the girl to the ground.

Wendy’s back slammed into the ground with a thud. Spit flew from her mouth as she gasped for air. Rolling over to her side, she slowly pushed herself onto her hands and knees before looking back at her opponent. He remained in the same spot, unmoving as always, but there was one key difference from all their previous fights.

A smile was stretched across Laxus’ face, which was something she had never seen during one of their fights before. Grunting as she pushed herself back up to her feet, she let her arms fall limp by her side as she turned to face him once again. Taking a deep breath, she began to feel around for the wind twisting and flowing throughout the clearing.

A frown quickly replaced the smile on Laxus’ face as he now glared down at the girl across from him. She had slowly begun sucking the air into her mouth and he knew that she had something planned. He just needed to figure out what that was. Crossing his arms over his chest, he planted his feet into the ground and waited. She had caught him slightly off guard with that last attack and he wouldn’t be falling for something like that again.

After a moment, the air swirling around Wendy’s mouth slowed before dissipating completely. Breathing softly, she lifted her arms up on each side as two magic circles appeared on each hand.

“Enchant, Arms. Vernier.” she chanted as the circles began to glow. Her body began to feel lighter than normal, as she felt the Arms enchantment wrap around her hands.

Taking a small step back with her right foot, she bent forward slightly as two spheres of wind formed around each of her hands. Closing her eyes, she took one last deep breath before looking at the man with determination etched across her face. Launching herself at her opponent she moved faster than she ever had before, leaving a trail of dust and wind in her wake.

Laxus barely had time to blink before the girl was upon him with a ferocious scream. She swung her wind covered fist down at his face and he quickly raised his arm to block. To his surprise, the attack forced him to take a step back, as he felt a searing pain flare up on his arm. Although he didn’t have time to dwell on it as he raised his hand to block Wendy’s other fist.

Once again, he felt the same pain erupt on this arm, and he knew that she had finally managed to hit him with the power he had been waiting for. Taking another step back, he repeatedly raised his arms to block the onslaught of attacks from the girl. And in between the bursts of wind colliding with his forearm, he was finally able to notice the small trails of blood dripping down his arms.

Smirking to himself, he decided that it was time to end the fight and when the next attack came he quickly grabbed the girl’s arm before pinning her down to the ground. Wendy continued to thrash around and fight back against his grip for a moment before finally giving in and relaxing her body. Once he noticed she was calm, he let go of her wrists before taking a step back and looking down at his own arms.

The cuts weren’t deep, but they were always in a pair of two or three. And some had done more damage than others, with small trails of blood sliding down from the end of a few of the cuts. A small groan from the girl tore is attention away from his arms and when he looked back over at the girl, he finally got a good look at the destruction they had caused.

Leaves and sticks lay all over the clearing, and a few of the smaller trees on the edge of the clearing had either been uprooted by the winds or had been chopped clean in half. Their campsite was in complete shambles, with their belongings ending up in completely random spots within the forest and clearing.

Sighing to himself, he ignored the state of the clearing for the time being and chose to focus on Wendy, who still lay on the ground. Even though she hadn’t been hit at all during the fight, her appearance had taken a toll during the fight as well. Her long hair had seen better days, and there were quite a few tears in her clothes.

Laxus opted to wait in silence for the girl to catch her breath before starting to speak. She had done well over the past few months and the training had really begun to show. Up until these past two weeks, she had not been able to get close enough to hit him, let alone actually cut him. And with these last few fights, she had begun to show that she can last long enough before needing to stop.

It only took a few more moments, but eventually the girl pulled herself up onto her hands and knees. She kept her eyes closed as she faced the ground, but he could see the frown stretched across her face. Now that she held her head up, he couldn’t help but notice that she was in an even worse state than he thought.

Her hair had a few leaves and twigs sticking out of it and it stuck out in random directions. The back of her shirt had been completely ripped open, and there were cuts and scratches along her back. Looking down at her foot, he could see a small patch of purple spread across her heel. Although when he noticed this, he looked down at his arms to see a light bruise on them as well. She must have hit him much harder than he initially thought.

Letting out a light chuckle, he took a small step back and crossed his arms over his chest. His long, black coat rustled slightly in the breeze as he continued to stare down at the motionless girl. He heard her take a deep breath before finally pushing herself up and getting back onto her feet, although she stood leaning slightly to one side to relieve some of the pain on her bruised foot. She had once again opened her eyes and had taken to glaring down at the ground.

Raising an eyebrow, he watched the girl continue to glare at the ground. Eventually, growing tired at the lack of words from the girl, he decided to speak up. “What’s your problem?” Wendy shot up as her head whipped to look at him. She looked at him with wide, brown eyes but remained silent.

Laxus sighed as he ran a hand down his face. While the smaller dragon slayer had grown on him during these past few months, the one thing that drove him crazy was the lack of words from the girl. If he hadn’t heard her speak before, he would’ve thought she was a mute.

“What’s your problem?” he repeated, watching as the frown on her face grew and she clasped her hands together in front of her. “I’m sure that the ground did nothing to deserve that glare.”

A flurry of emotions flashed across the bluenette’s face as she opened and closed her mouth a few times. A blush appeared across her face as she stopped and took a breath to calm herself. All the while, Laxus had just watched the girl in slight amusement. It was clear that she was unsure of how to express her thoughts, which resulted in this.

“Whatever you need to say, just say it.” The girl shifted her gaze back up to the man as she opened her mouth once again. “I’ve been training for three months,” she started, and Laxus waited patiently as she took a breath before speaking once again. “It has been three months and I still can’t even land a hit on you. I’ll never become strong enough to defeat you at this rate.”

Wendy let out a shaky breath and she felt tears beginning to build up in her eyes. “If I can’t become strong enough to protect anyone, how am I supposed to keep my promise?” Bringing her hands up, she rubbed at her eyes furiously to remove the tears. Sniffing, she let her hands fall back down before speaking once more.

“I-If I can’t keep my promise, th-then what is the point of training anymore?” She reached up and grasped the edge of the scarf tightly. A single tear slid down the right side of her face, and as she stared down at the scaley, white scarf in her hand, the memories came flooding back.

Natsu’s final moments, watching him say goodbye to everyone before finally turning to her, asking her to make him a promise. Watching the tears slide down his cheeks as he turned away, so she wouldn’t see. Even in his final moments, he had wanted to act strong in front of her. And when she turned to run, the increase in power she felt emanating from the mage had been overwhelming.

She was knocked out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Blinking her eyes a few times to be rid of the tears, she slowly looked up to see Laxus standing above her with a serious look on his face. “Stop crying,” he started, not removing his hand from her shoulder. “You have cried enough. Would Natsu want you crying over something like this?”

Shifting her gaze back down to the scarf still wrapped tightly in her hand, she took a deep, shuddering breath as she shook her head. She felt the man pat her shoulder once more but decided to keep her gaze down. “And besides, you have improved a lot since we started.”

The frown deepened on her face as she heard these words. He had told her before that she had been improving, but there was nothing to show for it. For three months she had trained, and she still couldn’t land a single hit. She hadn’t even been able to give him any cuts or bruises. Even though she was the only one to attack, she was always the one who ended up with the cuts and bruises.

Shaking her head again, she took a small step back and let Laxus’ hand fall back by his side. “I am just too weak.” she whispered as the tears started to build up once again. Her lower lip started to tremble as she struggled to keep the tears from falling. “W-Why would y-you waste your time training s-someone like me?” she stuttered, distress evident in her voice.

“I’m not s-strong like many others in the guild, and I-” Two hands being grabbing onto her shoulders interrupted her words. She let her grip around the scarf go slack as her watery brown eyes stared into his fierce grey ones. There was a deep frown across his face as he narrowed his eyes at the girl.

“I don’t want to hear another word.” he spoke fiercely. “I didn’t go to any of the other guild members and offer to train them, now did I?” Wendy hesitated at the question before slowly shaking her head. “Have I spent the past three months training anyone but you?” Another shake. “Do you think I would spend three months training someone if I thought they didn’t have potential?”

As Wendy shook her head for a third time, she opened her mouth to speak but was stopped by the man raising his hand. “I wasn’t finished yet.” Removing his hands from her shoulders he brought his arms up in front of her face before showing her the cuts and bruises. “You say you aren’t strong enough.” he began, twisting his arms so she could see all around them. “Not everyone can say they have managed to cut me. And dragon slayers are notoriously hard to bruise.”

Dropping his arms once again, he looked into the wide eyes of the sky mage. “You are strong Wendy. Stronger than many other mages alive already. You still have many years of growing to do, and seeing how strong you are now, who knows how strong you will be in just a few years.” Leaning back, he noticed the tears slowly starting to dissipate within the girl’s eyes.

“Now, no more crying. We need to pick this place up.” As he noticed the tears finally disappear and the sad look disappear from the girl’s face, a small smile appeared on his own. He had never been the emotional type and was generally the last person you would go to if you needed comforting, and so he was relieved to see that he was able to cheer her up.

Turning away to start picking up the mess, he suddenly felt a force slam against his lower back and two small arms wrap around his waist. Turning his head to look back, he found Wendy with her head buried in his back and her arms wrapped tightly around him. Although since she was so small, her arms couldn’t completely wrap around him.

“Thank you.” she whispered, and if it weren’t for his enhanced hearing, he was sure that he wouldn’t have heard it. Reaching his arm back, he gently placed it on her back. “No problem.”

They stayed like that for only a moment longer before Wendy took a few steps back and looked away with a small blush spread across her face. There was a moment of silence between the two before Laxus turned away once again and bent over to pick up one of their bedrolls. “Let’s get this place cleaned up. I’m starving and want to make some dinner.”

\----

Laxus sighed as he sat beside the campfire, watching the flames rise and fall, with small embers flying up into the night sky. Wendy was asleep on the opposite side of the fire, as the fight they had earlier in the day clearly took a lot out of her. But he knew she wouldn’t sleep long, she never really did.

She didn’t know, but he knew about the nightmares. He had noticed it on the first day of training but had chosen to remain quiet about it. If she didn’t want to talk about it, then he wouldn’t bring it up. Although the one thing that he noticed, and had become slightly worried about, was the fact that the amount of time she slept each night seemed to be getting shorter and shorter.

Even though he wasn’t entirely sure, he couldn’t help but think that her increasing lack of sleep had something to do with what had happened after their fight earlier in the day. Nothing like that had happened before throughout the three months they had been together. While it had probably been the largest amount of words he had ever heard her speak, he wasn’t sure if he should take that as a positive or negative.

Not to mention the complete change in attitude during the fight. In the beginning, he had seen the determined look on her face. She had come at him with more power than he had ever seen the girl use before and had even managed to catch him off guard for a moment. But as soon as he declared the fight to be over, she had taken to beating herself up over not being able to do more. She had gone from determined to distraught within a few seconds.

And these changes all revolved around one central issue. That promise. The one promise that Natsu made the poor girl swear to right before he ran off and got himself killed. Laxus clenched his fist tightly as he thought about the fire mage. He wished that he would be able to see the pink-haired teen again, just so that he could beat the life out of him for making Wendy agree to such a ridiculous promise.

Narrowing his eyes as he stared in the flames, a frown appeared on his face. With the night sky hanging over head, the flames reflecting in his eyes gave him a terrifying look. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened today, but he knew that there was more to it. And he had a feeling that whatever it meant, it was only going to get worse from here.    


	8. The Ways of Magic

****9 Months Later, 2 Years Post-Tenrou, Wendy Age 14** **

Wendy sighed as she took a bite out of the bread that she held in her hands. Shifting her gaze over to the other two occupants of the table, she watched the two Exceeds beside her talk amongst themselves. This past week had been the first time in months she had been able to spend time with them, and she couldn’t deny that she had missed the pair during training.

Taking another bite out of the bread, she placed her other hand under her chin and slumped down against the table. Sure, she was happy to be back at the guildhall, but after the months of non-stop training, the lack of activity was a very different change of pace. Earlier on in the week she had completed a few missions around Magnolia with the help of her feline companions, but today she didn’t have the motivation to take any more requests.

So instead, she chose to sit in the guildhall tiredly staring around the bustling building. All the Fairy Tail mages were running about, taking or returning from missions, or just going about their daily life. Unfortunately, the remnants of Team Natsu had taken Juvia and Team Shadowgear along with Gajeel on an S-Class mission, resulting in many of her closer friends being away at the moment.

Earlier on she had spoken with Mira and Lisanna, although there hadn’t been much to talk about between the three, and with Wendy’s more reserved personality, it had mostly been a discussion between the two sisters. She had attempted to go and train, but with Laxus gone for the first time in months, she didn’t have as much motivation to go out to the field again.

She was broken out of her thoughts as she noticed a crowd gathering next to the bar. Mira was facing away from them all, placing something high up on the wall. She tried to ignore it at first, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her. Wendy pushed herself out of the table before standing up and making her way over to the outskirts of the crowd. Happy and Charla weren’t very far behind, and when they noticed the small girl not moving any closer to the crowd, Charla told Happy to go find out what the commotion was about.

Watching Happy fly above the rest of the guild members, Charla turned to look at the dragon slayer. “Happy will figure out what the ruckus is about.” she stated as she shook her head in disapproval. “I swear that some things will never change around here.”

Wendy only nodded her head in response but turned to look down at the Exceed. The white cat was staring into the crowd with her usual stern gaze, but despite that, she seemed to be more relaxed than normal. Feeling a slight pull on the corner of her lips, Wendy stared into the crowd once more. She supposed that was the effect that being in the guildhall had on you.

When Happy finally returned from the front, she switched her gaze to the small, blue cat and crouched down. “Mira just put up the new poster for the Grand Magic Games!” The cat exclaimed, fixing the crooked sack that was hanging around his neck. “I think that we are going to compete this year!”

Wendy’s eyes widened slightly at that. The Grand Magic Games had been a brand-new event created almost two years ago to determine which of the many guilds was number one. The first time it was held, the guild chose not to compete due to the events of Tenrou being fresh on their minds. And they had opted out of the second as well for reasons that only the S-Class mages knew.

As the initial commotion was dying out, the crowd around the bar began to slowly disperse and return to their seats, leaving an easier path for the small girl to slide through. As she approached the bar, she noticed Mira standing next to the sign with a bright smile on her face. When the white-haired girl noticed the dragon slayer, she sent the small girl a wave.

“Hello Wendy,” she started, “It’s nice to see so many of us excited.” Responding with a small nod, Wendy switched her gaze up to the poster. “Ah,” Mira sighed, now looking at the poster as well. “The Grand Magic Games. I really hope we do well.”

“So, we are competing this year then?” Wendy questioned, finally speaking up. The bright smile returned to Mira’s face as she gave Wendy a quick nod. “Master told me earlier that he plans to announce it later on today, when the others return from their S-Class request.”

Nodding in acceptance, she continued to read the poster that was taped to the wall.  _‘The Grand Magic Games!’_ It read at the top, with a collage of many famous mages drawn below.  _‘Which guild will be the best in all of Fiore? Will Lamia Scale be victorious once again or will another guild step up and claim the title for themselves?’_

“Lamia Scale has won the event twice in a row now. With Jura participating every time, the other guilds didn’t stand much of a chance.” Mira spoke, breaking the bluenette away from the poster. “But the master believes that we will win this year, at least with the team he had in mind for the event.”

Wendy already had a strong feeling that Fairy Tail would be the ones to win the event and take the title away from Lamia Scale. Even though Lamia Scale has held the official title of Fiore’s strongest guild, it was still widely recognized that Fairy Tail was still the more powerful of the two. It had only been a matter of time until Fairy Tail decided to participate in the event and officially claim the title for themselves.

Suddenly, the large doors to the guild were slammed open, breaking the poor girl out of her thoughts and causing her to jump. Turning around with the rest of the guild, she noticed all the mages who had gone on the S-Class Mission standing in the doorway with a smile, albeit looking worn out.

Erza stood in the center, yelling at the cowering Gray, who had apparently been the one to open the doors. Lucy stood to the side with a laughing Levy, while Gajeel held Jet and Droy up by their necks, since they were both unconscious. A small smile appeared on Wendy’s face as she looked at the scene. It almost seemed as if nothing had changed over the past two years.

After Erza finished berating Gray, the group made their way over to the bar. Wendy shuffled over to a seat on the side and just listened in as Mira greeted the group of mages. “Hello, everyone!” she exclaimed, her usual bright smile plastered across her face once more. “I’m guessing the mission went well then?”

Nodding her head, Erza placed the signed request form on the counter, which Mira took. “Yes, Gray and Gajeel handled themselves especially well. They have truly improved over the past two years.” Both guys said nothing but turned to look in different directions, and if one looked closely, you could see a tinge of red across both of their cheeks.

Lucy and Levy made their way over to Wendy before taking a small seat besides the girl. “Hi Wendy!” Lucy chirped, a small smile on her face. “How have you been doing lately?” Shrugging her shoulders in response, Wendy shifted her gaze to the ground. “It’s been alright.” she muttered.

The smile fell on the blonde's face for a split second as she glanced over at Levy before smiling once again. “That’s good then. Although I must admit, I didn’t expect to see you here today. I figured you’d be out training with Laxus again like usual.”

Shaking her head, Wendy kept her gaze on the ground. “Laxus has gone on a mission. He won’t be back for a few months.”

Charla and Happy made their way over to the group of three and took a seat on the counter. Glancing over at Levy once more, Lucy turned her gaze back towards the small dragon slayer before clapping her hands lightly.

“That’s perfect then!” she exclaimed, causing Wendy to look up at her out of the corner of her eyes. “That means you’ll be able to come with us on some missions again! It really hasn’t been the same without you, and I know Erza and Gray would love to have you back as well!”

Wendy said nothing in return, and only turned to stare at the floor once again, her bangs covering her eyes. The smile finally dropped on Lucy’s face as she sent a sad look towards Wendy. Levy placed her hand on Wendy’s shoulder who jumped a little from the touch and opened her mouth to speak before she was interrupted.

“Listen up you brats!” The master yelled, standing on the stage across the room. All the talking ceased as all the guild members turned to look at their master. Wendy finally looked away from the ground to watch the master. She guessed he was about to make the speech Mira had spoken about earlier.

“This year we are finally competing in the Grand Magic Games. It’s time we officially reclaim our title as the number one guild in Fiore!” he exclaimed, causing all the mages in the guild hall to erupt in agreement. Gajeel grunted from all the shouting as Wendy just raised her hands to cover her ears.

Clearing his throat, the master raised one hand to quiet the crowd. “Now, the default structure for the games is that each guild sends in one team of five to compete. Today I shall announce the five members that will be representing the Fairy Tail guild!” The guild remained silent at this, all waiting in anticipation to see who would get chosen.

Withdrawing a small piece of paper from his pocket, he unfolded it and read it for a moment. “To start, our team shall consist of two S-Class mages. Laxus Dreyar and Erza Scarlet.” A few mutters rang out throughout the guild, but no one was surprised. Both members were some of the most powerful mages in the country, let alone their guild.

“Next we will have Gray Fullbuster and Gajeel Redfox.” At this, a smirk appeared on Gray’s face as he leaned back in his seat. Gajeel just looked up momentarily before shrugging and returning to his bowl of scrap metal.

Wendy looked at the master as she waited for him to call out the last candidate. Despite her reserved nature, she couldn’t help but hope she was chosen as the last candidate. She would love to have the chance to fight alongside Laxus instead of against him for once.

“And the last member to represent Fairy Tail shall be Lucy Heartfilia!” He shouted, causing the mentioned girl to blush when all the faces turned to look at her. “Do your best and bring the title of the number one guild back to Fairy Tail!” All the members of the guild shouted out once more in excitement. After having to sit back and watch as all the other guilds competed over the last two years, they were all excited to have the chance to go and compete themselves, even if many of them would only be watching.

Wendy joined in and clapped alongside her guildmates but couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. She had trained hard this past year and wanted a chance to show everyone that she had improved as well. Clenching her hands into a fist, she shook it off before hopping off the barstool.

Noticing the girl’s movement, Lucy looked down at her. “Heading out already, Wendy?” she questioned, the slight blush still spread across her cheeks from all the attention. The bluenette only nodded in reply before beginning to walk. When she noticed Charla land softly in front of her, she stared down into the brown eyes of her exceed companion.

“I’ll accompany you then.” Charla started, but stopped once she noticed Wendy shaking her head. “Sorry Charla,” she muttered, fiddling with her hands, “I just want to go alone right now.” Without waiting for a reply, the girl continued her way, making her way out of the guild unnoticed by anyone else.

Standing outside, she took a deep breath, happy to be away from the crowds. While she loved the guild and its rowdiness, she had gotten used to the peace and quiet the forest had brought during her training.

Starting on her path through Magnolia, she had one destination in mind. She would visit this place often, despite some the bad memories it brought. It held a secret that she had spent the past year trying to solve, with no luck so far.

\----

Slowly opening the door to the small house, she watched as the dust rose from the furniture inside before settling once again. Covering her mouth to block a cough, she stepped in and shut the door behind her. With the door closed, the room had darkened, giving it an eerie feel with the only source of light coming from the few small windows.

Pushing those feelings aside, Wendy made her way over to the locked door on her left. Gently removing the latch that held the door in place, she winced as the door creaked open. Even though no one actively lived in the house anymore, she couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty about going through other people’s belongings.

Taking a small step into the next room, the usual feeling of despair settled over her shoulders as she looked throughout the room. It didn’t matter how many times she had entered the room, every time she would enter, it felt like it was the first. Looking at all the varying objects that symbolized all their missions together. Feeling her eyes begin to water, she quickly blinked to get rid of the tears and pushed herself into the room.

Ignoring all the other objects, she pushed herself back to the corner of the room, where the tarp lay. Removing the cloth and pulling out the box, she placed it gently on top of the wooden table sitting in the corner of the room. As it lay on top of the table, she stood there silently, staring at it. For months she had been returning to this spot and trying to figure out what this could be. And so far, she had not had any luck.

Unlatching the lock, she tilted the top of the box open and looked down at the glowing red stone. It was only a faint glow, as it normally was, and as she reached down to pick it up, she could feel the heat radiating from it. The stone never hurt her, but it was a tad uncomfortable to hold.

She twirled the stone through her fingers a few times, distracted by her thoughts. No matter what she had come up with during her research, nothing seemed to fit the stone’s description. Her best guess was that it was a lacrima of some sort, and that Natsu had just decided to hold onto it due to the heat it gave off. It probably reminded him of his fire.

Smiling slightly at the thought of Natsu finding the stone, it was quickly brushed from her mind as a bright light suddenly erupted from the main room. Eyes widening, she silently stood in place, listening for any noise. She couldn’t guess where the light had come from, but she hadn’t heard anything either, and normally her senses would be able to pick up anyone trying to get into the house.

Silently tiptoeing over to the edge of the door, she put her back against the frame and tried to get a good look into the room. “Hello?” she called out, not sure what to expect. Waiting for a few moments and getting no answer, she slowly turned her head to look through the door into the main room.

The room was empty, with the front door still closed just as she had left it. Taking a tentative step into the room, she then noticed what was causing the light. A small fire was crackling within the fireplace, the embers shooting up the chimney and out into the sky. Making her way closer to the fire to figure out what started it, she noticed the stone slowly glowing brighter.

Grasping the stone tightly in her hand, she kneeled beside the crackling flames. The closer she got, the warmer the stone in her hand became, urging her forward. By now, she was less than a foot away from the fire, and she could feel herself sweating as the heat hit her body.

Unraveling her fingers, she glanced down at the glowing stone in her hand. It was still shining, but now it pulsing with light, and after a moment, she realized it was reacting with her heartbeat. Lifting her other hand up, she slowly began to move it closer to the flames. And eventually, the flames were bristling against her hand.

With widened eyes, she pushed her hand further, until it was fully engulfed by the flames. There was no pain. No burning. Only a sense of comfort that washed over her as she sat with her hand covered in the fire. The flames seemed to dance between her fingers, wrapping around her hand in an almost protective manner.

Letting out a slow breath, she turned to the stone once more, seeing it grow brighter than ever. She finally understood what this stone was, and why it had been so precious to Natsu. The bearer of this stone could wield fire, but not just any ordinary fire. A dragon’s fire. Natsu had been holding onto a Fire Dragon’s Lacrima.    


	9. S-Class

****12 Months Later, 3 Years Post-Tenrou,****   ** **Wendy Age 15****

_“You are weak. Useless. Who do you think you are, trying to stand up to me? You are just a little girl. You could not hope to stand up to any mage more experienced than yourself. Just give up and make it easier for all of us.”_

_Wendy watched helplessly as the woman sauntered over to the mage lying on the ground. He attempted to get back to his feet, but it was to no avail. Standing before him, the woman seemed gigantic as she towered over his crumpled form. “How could you hope to stand against me if even he couldn’t?”_

_Wendy screamed as she struggled against the chains that held her back, just wishing that they would break. But that never happened, and she was forced to watch the woman raise the spear that was grasped within her hand. Screaming at the woman to stop, she was powerless as a sadistic smile formed on her face. “Useless.” She stated as she brought the spear down._

Wendy let out a startled scream as she shot up in her bed, gasping for breath. Sweat dripped down her forehead and covered her body from head to toe, soaking into the bed below her. Wiping her trembling hands on the blanket in front of her, she looked down at her lap, letting her blue hair slip over her shoulders and cover her face.

She forced herself to take deep breaths as she attempted to calm her racing heart. Shifting her legs over the edge of the bed, she pushed back some of the hair that stuck to her forehead. Taking breath after breath, it was useless as her body continued to tremble.

Her nightmares were never the same anymore. Every night there was something new, something to haunt her. And last night had been one of the worst in a while.

\----

****_Five Days Earlier_ ** **

Laxus watched as Makarov took a seat behind the desk, crossing his legs on his chair. The old man pulled the wooden mug off the desk and took a long sip before placing it down on the chair in between his legs.

“It’s been a while since Tenrou, about three years to be exact.” His grandfather started, quickly taking another sip from the mug. “This is the third time the S-Class trials have been postponed now, and I can sense many of the other members becoming restless.”

Laxus frowned at that comment. He understood where the rest of them were coming from. The strive to become stronger and prove it to everyone else, it was one of the driving factors of many of the Fairy Tail guild members, including himself once upon a time. But he knew that it was difficult for his grandfather to let the rest of the guild down, despite only having the best intentions in mind.

“I can’t postpone it any longer. We have waited three years for any sign of Tenrou and there has been absolutely nothing.” The old man rubbed his forehead with his hand and let out a long sigh. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but I’ve now decided.”

Shifting his gaze to the stern eyes of his grandson, he let his hand fall to the desk in front of him. “We shall hold the S-Class Trials again in one year, and I understand how many people will feel about this. Because of that, I shall require every Fairy Tail member to be in attendance, no matter if they are participating or not.”

There was a pause, and Laxus waited in silence for his grandfather to continue. “Also.” Makarov began, before opening one of the drawers on the side of the desk. “Every current S-Class mage will choose two candidates for the trial. It doesn’t matter who you choose. I trust that you all have good judgement… for the most part.”

Shrugging off the gibe that the man had thrown his way, Laxus watched him shuffle through the drawer for a moment more. Seeming to have found what he wanted, the man shut the drawer with a light slam and sat back in his chair. He held a piece of paper up to Laxus who proceeded to take it.

“When you have decided on your candidates, write them on that paper and leave it in my office. That way I know what it contains.” Seeing his grandson nod his head in agreement, he continued. “You have until three weeks before the trials begin in exactly one year. Don’t be late.”

Giving another small nod to his grandfather, Laxus took that as his leave and made his way out of the office. Walking over to his normal spot on the second floor, he took a seat in the chair by the railing, resting his legs on the chair across from him. Leaning back, he placed his hands behind his head and shut his eyes. Sometimes he wished that the guild wouldn’t make so much noise, especially when he was trying to think.

After trying to block out the noise for a few minutes, he frowned when he heard a few people moving beside him. Opening one eye for a peek, he grunted when he recognized the remaining members of Team Natsu. The Exceeds stood beside Lucy and Gray who in turn were standing slightly behind Erza. The scarlet-haired mage met Laxus’ eye with an even gaze.

“Laxus.” she spoke as she noticed him open an eye. “We need to speak.”

Closing his eye once more, he used one hand to wave the group away. “Come back later.” he grumbled, trying to calm the headache that was ringing in his head.

“It’s about Wendy.” The redhead spoke, causing the large man to freeze. He hadn’t seen the girl for a long time, almost a year by this point, and he had been wondering what she had been up to. But from the tone in her voice, he couldn’t imagine that it would be anything good.

Opening his eyes, he sat up and rested his arms on the armrests of the chair. “Go on.”

Pausing for a moment, Erza began when she noticed the frown forming on Laxus’ face. “Something has happened to Wendy. We aren’t sure what happened, but the last time she was here in the guild it was clear to everyone, something had happened. She had changed since Tenrou, but this was different.”

Taking a breath, she switched her gaze to her companions beside her. “Something had changed.” The blonde continued, her large brown eyes looking up at the large form of the man in front of her. “Sure, as Erza said, she has definitely changed since Tenrou, but I mean, we have all changed. No one was unaffected by what happened that day.”

Grunting quietly, he leaned back farther in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He remained quiet, knowing that the group hadn’t finished with what they were saying just yet.

“And then we had the Grand Magic Games. I don’t necessarily know what happened, but she grew bitter. No one could get close to her, even Charla.” At this she looked down at the Exceed, who was staring down at the ground worriedly.

“But then… She returned from that mission a month or so ago, and that’s when we knew for sure that something had changed.” This time is being the ice mage who had spoken, and he shifted his gaze to the raven-haired mage who was running a hand through his hair.

“Wendy wasn’t just quiet and bitter anymore, but it seemed as if she was… Well, more hostile would be the best way to put it.” Glancing over at the other two members of Team Natsu and the Exceeds sitting beside him, he saw them nod in confirmation of his words. “She wouldn’t even speak to us anymore, just blatantly ignoring us.”

Watching the man pause to take a breath, Laxus rubbed a tired hand over his face. Furrowing his eyebrows, he thought back to when he had last seen the small blue-haired girl. It was just before the guild had left for Grand Magic Games. She had purposefully waited for him to return from his mission with the rest of the Thunder Tribe so that she would be able to speak to him before they left.

At the time, things hadn’t seemed all that different about her. Yes, he had grown more concerned when she had mentioned to him that she still wasn’t getting any sleep, even with the sleep medicine he had purchased for her. But there hadn’t been any noticeable differences about the girl. She had still been the quiet, reserved girl he had trained for all those months in the forest outside of town.

“Although she did mention something else.” Laxus was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the scarlet-haired mage beside him speak up. Slightly motioning for her to continue, he shifted his gaze down to the Exceeds sitting on the floor below them. Whenever he had let Wendy go back to the guildhall, she had always had those two cats with her.

“It was something about a promise.” Her voice broke him out of his thoughts once again, and his eyes widened. “She didn’t tell us anything about it, and we had only heard it because we had found her training alone. When she found out we were there, she just left without a word.” Shifting his gaze over to Erza, he leaned forward and place his arms on his knees. “Where is she now?”

Lifting her hand, there was a bright glow before a single piece of paper was held within her grasp. “She left a few days ago to go on another mission.” Grabbing the paper from her extended hand, he flipped it over so that he could read it. “It doesn’t seem like that difficult of a mission, but it is located on the opposite side of Fiore. She’ll be gone for at least another week or two.”

Sighing deeply, he stood up out of his seat while clenching the paper in his hand. The rest of Team Natsu watched him as he made his way over to the stairs. “I’ll go find her.” He grumbled, waving off Freed as he had begun to make his way over. Pushing his way through the large doors, he paused as his eyes adjusted to the sun. Clenching the paper within his fist even tighter, he started on his way.

\----

****_Present_ ** **

Wendy frowned as she leaned against the railing of the balcony. Currently three stories up, she could feel the wind blowing past her, allowing for a relaxing sensation to wash over her body. While the air within the towns wasn’t anything to die for, it still managed to give her some relief.

She placed her elbows on the top of the railing and rested her chin on her palms. The client for the mission she had chosen had rented her a room in the best inn in town for the duration of the mission, due to it being on the longer side. And she had been pleased to find out that it was located on the top floor.

After recomposing herself earlier in the morning, she had fixed herself up before eating a quick breakfast of leftover food from her bag. Deciding that she needed some fresh air, she had walked out onto the balcony, immediately feeling a wave of calmness wash over her.

Throughout the past year, she had found herself relying on the wind for a multitude of things. But she had never felt so powerful before. She could feel the breeze flowing across the town, and the wind picking up speed around the ocean. She had never been so in tune with her element before.

Hearing a shout from down below, her eyes shifted down towards a small group of kids who were playing in the street. And when she noticed the bright blonde hair of one, her thoughts returned to the meeting she had with Laxus the day prior.

\----

****_Previous Day_ ** **

Shaking off the dust from her clothes, Wendy stood up from where she had been sitting. She had left the guild a few days ago for a new mission, but having arrived earlier than she thought she would, she chose to walk around the town a bit before going to talk to the issuer.

The town was bustling, with all the townsfolk going about their day to day activities. Vendors lined the sides of the roads, with carts full of goods to sell. Children ran about in the streets, with their parents following close behind. But Wendy had ignored all of this, instead choosing to find a spot to relax in the park on the edge of town.

And now, deciding that she had waited long enough, she began to move. She was dressed in a light blue dress with brown leggings and boots. A thin belt was wrapped around her waist and she had Natsu’s scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. A while back, she had decided to forgo her usual ponytails and let her hair fall loosely over her back.

Making her way into the streets, she strode through the town. She continued in silence for a few minutes, moving out of the way of people that stepped into her path. And as she was about to turn towards the town hall, she heard a voice speak.

“Wendy.”

A scowl formed on her face as she turned and noticed the man looking at her from across the road. Without wasting any time, he quickly began to make his way towards her. Pushing all the other townsfolk out of the way if they moved into his path.

She quickly turned and started pushing her way through in the opposite direction. Many people gave her dirty looks and a couple threw insults at her, but she ignored it and pushed on. She knew why he was here, and she didn’t really want to get caught up in a conversation with him now... Or at any time really.

There was no doubt that the others back at the guild hall had spoken to him. What they had said to him, well, she could only guess. They kept on believing that they had to look out for her. As if she couldn’t watch out for herself.

Scoffing at that thought, she pushed another person aside as she turned down an alleyway. Jumping over loose pieces of trash and scraps, she emerged from the other end in another street, although this one was less busy than the last. Turning down the street, she started to run again until she felt a hand grab her shoulder and pull her back.

After struggling against the hand for a moment, and failing to get away, she gave up. She felt her shoulders slump as she looked towards the ground, unwilling the face the man standing behind her.

“So…” She heard the familiar voice begin, as the hand on her shoulder gripped her tighter. “Any reason as to why you’re running away?”

She scowled down at the ground, almost as if she was trying to burn holes in the ground with her eyes. Attempting to shrug the hand off her shoulder once again, she wasn’t entirely surprised when the bigger man didn’t budge. The few people walking down the street beside them gave the pair a glance, but otherwise continued their way.

She continued to struggle for a second but paused once the man spoke again. “Stop.” he spoke, the tone in his voice making the girl halt her slight struggles. “You either tell me what’s going on or I’m going to walk away. I have far better things I could spend my time doing rather than trying to get an unwilling girl to speak.”

Finally relenting, she stopped her struggles. The older man didn’t remove the hand from her shoulder, and she felt as if she wanted to do nothing more than run away. And when she didn’t speak up, he grumbled quietly before speaking once again.

“The S-Class Trials will take place next year.” he said, causing the young girl’s eyes to widen slightly. “Master hasn’t made an announcement yet about it, but it’s only a matter of time.” Still refusing to look at the man, she continued to look at the ground, albeit with much less ferocity than before.

“I have been allowed to pick two candidates for the S-Class Trials.” He grumbled, running a hand across his chin. “One of them will be you.”

For the second time within minutes, her eyes widened. She couldn’t help but feel surprised. Out of every possible outcome, she couldn’t really say she had been expecting this.

Her thoughts wandered back to the last time they had spoken. It had been a little while before the guild had left to participate in the Grand Magic Games. She’d been hoping, praying even, that they would substitute her in during the games. She had been dying to show the rest of the guild what she could do after all the training she had down over the course of the past year.

But no. By the end of their conversation it was clear that she would not be participating. She had wanted to yell, scream, shout, just do something because of how frustrated she felt. All she wanted was one chance, just one. To show them that she had changed. That rejection had only confirmed what she had been believing for the longest time.

She was knocked out of her thoughts when she felt the hand spin her around. Still refusing to look up at the man, she heard him sigh and drop his hand off her shoulder. “It starts in a year.”

Still opting to say nothing, she took a few steps back to put some distance between them, although it clearly wouldn’t do much if he wanted to grab her again. She switched her gaze to the road beside her and watched the people around them move about. The man grumbled lightly to himself as he buried his hands in his pockets, clearly growing frustrated.

“Listen. If there’s something you want to say, say it. I can take it.” Receiving no word from the girl, he grumbled again as he took a breath, deciding to take a different approach.

“Listen, kid, if there’s something you need to talk about, you can talk about it with me. I won’t go running to anyone else.” He noticed the girl’s shoulders relax, and his eyes widened an inch. Thinking that he had finally got the girl to speak, he waited for her to begin.

But instead, the girl’s head turned towards him, a glare etched on her face. Her usual bright brown eyes were dark, almost as if they were black. Her lips were curved down in a fierce grimace. Her long hair swayed in the wind that picked up around them. He had never seen such an expression upon her face before.

They stood like that for a few moments longer. The girl glaring at him, as the man stared back down at her with an impassive look on his face, although she could see the surprise in his eyes.

Turning away with a slight ‘Tch’ she began to walk away, and this time he didn’t follow her.

\----

Wendy’s scowl deepened as she gripped the railing tighter. She had been alone for the entire year, and yet he chose now to come and speak with her. Feeling her hands trembling with the force she was gripping the railing with, she quickly let go and took a step back.

It had all started with the Grand Magic Games.

It had been bittersweet. She had no problem watching her closest friends compete for the number one title, but she had wanted nothing more to be given the chance to prove herself to the others. To show them just how much she had improved with the training Laxus had given her, along with all the time she spent training alone afterwards.

And she knew that it wasn’t only because they thought she wasn’t strong enough magically to handle it. They knew she was capable, it was almost impossible to miss the power the girl showed around the guild. And if Laxus had spoken up, she knew that they would have given her a chance, but he had kept quiet. The night he returned before the games, he had spoken with her for a while, but even after he had left to go sit on the second floor alone, she had felt his eyes on her for the rest of the night.

He would probably never admit it aloud, but she knew that he was worried about her. About six months into their training, he had confronted her about the nightmares. She didn’t know how long before that day he had known, but she had to guess that it had been a while. It wasn’t as if she had been able to be secretive about it.

It had been a long conversation, one that hadn’t been exactly easy for her to talk about. She had dealt with the dreams for months, years even, alone and without anyone else knowing. And that was the way she had liked it. She didn’t want the others having to constantly worry about her. She was supposed to look after them, after all, if she wanted to keep her promise.

And that might have partly been a reason why she had begun to distance herself from the others. The closer she was to them, the more likely the chance that they figured out that something was wrong. That the young girl hadn’t been able to get a full night’s rest for a long time. That she wasn’t as fine as she made herself out to be.

And that’s why he hadn’t spoken up. She could see it in his eyes when they had spoken after his return.

Narrowing her eyes, she clenched her fists tightly as she glared down at the bustling town below her. Her hair was swaying with the wind that was quickly picking up speed around her, and a few of the village folk had begun to take notice of the gathering winds.

Despite how much she had improved over the past years, they still underestimated her. They still thought her to be the weak twelve-year-old girl who had been useless on Tenrou Island. Useless in saving their friend. She wished that they would stop treating her like she was still a little girl that was unable to take care of herself.

Scowling down at the town below her, she brought her right hand up to her neck and swiftly reached under the scarf that was wrapped tightly around her neck. Grasping the stone that had been attached to a chain around her neck, she felt the heat of the stone react to her touch, seemingly mimicking her emotions as it pulsed with energy.    


	10. The Trials Begin

**12 Months Later, 4 Years Post-Tenrou, Wendy Age 16**

_Wendy gasped in pain, falling to her knees before the taller woman. The bodies of her comrades lay all around her, some moving, while others staying eerily still. She slowly reached out to the man lying in front of her, desperately wanting to help, when she was struck in the back._

_Feeling the air leave her chest, she fell forward onto her forearms. Both arms were shaking, strained with the effort of trying to hold her injured body off the floor. She didn't know what had happened. One minute she had the upper hand fighting the opposing mage, and the next... everyone else was there._

_"This will always be your greatest weakness." Wendy slowly turned her head to look at the dark-haired mage standing behind her, shooting a glare in her direction with the corner of her eye. The woman frowned as she continued to twirl the spear in her right hand. "It's a shame to see so much potential go to waste. If only you'd learn."_

_Moving faster than Wendy was able to see, the woman hit her side with a powerful kick, sending the smaller girl rolling a few feet away. Spitting out a glob of blood, Wendy slowly turned and faced the woman once again, still feeling the fear grow within her._

_The woman raised her hands, motioning to the fallen bodies all around them. "They make you weak! Why can't you see that?" Raising her foot, she slammed one of their faces into the dirt._

_"I learned a long time ago. Way before you were even born. And now look at me. I have power many people can only dream of!"_

_Letting out a deep laugh, the woman switched her gaze back to the young mage. "Just give up. I tried to show you the way, and yet you refused to listen. Now you will die."_

_\----_

Snow fluttered to the ground around them, covering more of the ground in the white powder. Wendy breathed out, watching the mist form in front of her mouth. Feeling her body shake from the cold, she buried her face in the scarf that was wrapped around her neck and pulled the blanket around her tighter.

The sixteen-year-old girl was currently walking alone at the edge of the rather large group. Just as the Master had announced, every member of the Fairy Tail Guild had accompanied the rest of the candidates for the trials. The only members who weren't around now were the S-Class mages, all who had gone ahead to set up the camp ahead of time.

In front of her, many of those within the group were shivering and complaining about the cold through their chattering teeth. There were the few people who weren't as affected by it, namely Gray, who of course wasn't affected by the cold due to his magic; and Gajeel, who was just ignoring the frigid winds.

They had been shuffling through the snow for a good thirty minutes, and the master was ensuring that they were getting close. Eventually, they were able to see a rather large cave opening that was covered with snow that looked as if it could topple down at any moment. A couple of torches had been placed along the inside of the entrance to provide some light.

Shuffling their way inside, many people within the group cheered out in relief. Campfires and tents had been placed around the camp allowing for everyone to rest and make themselves warm. Wendy stopped at the entrance as she watched everyone make their way in and pick a spot to rest. And when she spotted an empty space at the edge of the cave, she began to make her way over.

She sat herself down by the lone campfire down in the corner of the cave. As she took a seat and stretch her legs out, she noticed Lucy and Erza glance over at her from the corner of her eye. Not acknowledging them, she spread her hands over the fire as she stared into the crackling flames below her. She could feel the stone that was hanging around her neck begin to get rather warm but ignored it once she heard a voice clear their throat from across the clearing.

"Sorry for the tiring journey, everyone. Unfortunately, due to the location of the trials, we had no choice but to walk." The master began, standing on one of the larger rocks in the center of the cave. All the guild's attention had now switched over to his small figure. "I think that it is time that I announce the participants for the trial."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Wendy just slumped further against the wall as she listened with a slight frown on her face. A few of the other members had looked over when they noticed her movement but had remained quiet. Many of the members were hoping that they would be chosen to participate this time around.

Coughing into his fist, the short man withdrew a small piece of paper from his jacket pocket. Reading it over to himself quickly, his gaze shifted back to the crowd standing in front of him. "We have eight candidates once again for this trial, and for this trial, no partners will be allowed."

"Gray Fullbuster."

"Lucy Heartfilia."

"Gajeel Redfox."

"Wendy Marvell."

"Juvia Lockser."

"Freed Justine."

"Elfman Strauss."

"Cana Alberona."

All the members of Fairy Tail looked at the eight competitors and cheered out, wishing them success and luck. A few looked envious at not being selected to compete, but quickly got over it and joined the cheering.

Lucy blushed from all the cheering and just waved her fellow guildmates away with a slight laugh, while others such as Gray and Gajeel tried to play it off as no surprise, but they couldn't hide the fire in their eyes. And eventually, the cheering stopped once they noticed the master raise a hand.

"Alright, alright. You've all wished them luck, but now it's time for the first trial to begin." Taking a moment so that he ensured that he had everyone's attention. "Similar to the last trials, each mage shall enter one of the eight tunnels numbered behind me." With a pause, he pointed a finger at the eight tunnels carved out into the clearing behind him.

"Each competitor shall run into an opponent, where they will proceed to fight until one is no longer able to continue. When that finally happens, the ward blocking the exit will dissipate, allowing the winner to continue on."

A few mutters rang out throughout the crowd, with many anticipating the fights to come. A few of the competitors looked slightly nervous, while others looked excited at the prospect of a fight. "Now without waiting any longer, you may all begin!"

Wendy broke out from the crowd rather quickly, making her way over to the tunnel with the number eight hanging from above it. Gray and Gajeel had already rushed into their tunnels, with Elfman following close behind.

Dropping the blanket from around her shoulders, she made her way towards the entrance of a tunnel. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Laxus look her way, but she ignored him and pressed on. The tunnel was dimly lit, with only a few torches placed sporadically providing light within the snaking tunnel.

Stepping over any debris she passed, she continued, ignoring the different sounds that rang throughout the tunnel. Kicking all the little rocks and stones out of her path, she noticed that the tunnel was slowly widening, until the tunnel finally ended, and she came upon a rather large clearing.

Looking around the exit and into the clearing, she could see two more tunnels leading away from the clearing. One was blocked off by a ward, which meant that it was the exit of the tunnel. Stepping into the clearing, she noticed a figure standing on the opposite side, right at the exit of their tunnel. The figure wore a plain white shirt, with a short skirt that ended midway up her thighs. Her shiny blond hair was tied into one ponytail that hung off to the side, and she rested one of her hands on the keychain that was wrapped around her belt.

"Wendy!" Lucy exclaimed, a small smile appeared on her face. She began to take a few small steps forward but paused when she noticed the look on the younger girl's face. Feeling the smile fall, her hand gripped her keychain harder, preparing herself.

The blonde received no answer, causing her to frown when the younger girl took a small step forward. Wind began to flow throughout the cave, causing both girls hair to sway back and forth. It began to gather around Wendy's hands, forming two small twisters around her fists.

Looking over at the taller blond, she could see the hesitance in Lucy. She clearly didn't want to attack the younger girl, which made Wendy frown in annoyance. Without waiting for a moment more, Wendy jumped forward, swinging her leg forward. Lucy leaned back and jumped out of the way at the last moment, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Lucy's eyes widened as she withdrew two keys from off her waist. "Wendy, wait!" she exclaimed, dodging another kick from the younger girl. Growing frustrated with her lack of success, Wendy's eyes narrowed, and she took a small step back. She held her arms out in front of her as she cast her first spell.

"Vernier." She whispered, as her hands glowed, and she felt her body get lighter. Shooting forward with a newfound speed, Lucy was too slow to react this time as Wendy swept her legs out from underneath her. Quickly sitting back up, Lucy held out the two keys in front of her as they shone with a bright golden light.

As the light faded, Taurus stood in front of Lucy, holding his axe up to protect the two behind him. Lucy leaned onto Virgo's arm, who was currently tending to the cuts that Lucy had gathered on her arms. Without waiting for a command from the celestial mage, the bull rushed forward and swung his axe at the dragon slayer.

Wendy swiftly leaned back to dodge the strike, raising her right hand to block the following punch from the large creature. Dodging swing after swing, she felt the wind beginning to gather around her mouth as she waited for an opening to strike, and when it appeared she unleashed her attack. "Sky Dragon's Roar!"

Unable to block the attack, the giant bull was thrown back from the force of the wind and slammed into the rocky wall behind him. Chunks of rock and stone flew from the impact, littering the ground around them. With a cry of pain, which distinctly sounded like a moo, the bull disappeared in a flash of golden light, causing the blonde mage to frown in concern.

Pushing away from Virgo, she turned her gaze to the younger female standing across from her. She would never say that Taurus was her strongest spirit, but she couldn't remember a time recently when he had been defeated by a single blow. A few beads of sweat dripped down her forehead as she watched the bluenette turn back to her with a glare across her face. She was realizing now that no one really knew how strong the sky mage had become.

Bringing her hand back down to her waist, she withdrew another key from her keychain. She felt the magic within her dissipate as the key flashed golden, signaling the arrival of another spirit. And soon, a man with bright orange hair wearing a pristine black suit and glasses arrived, standing in front of Lucy with his right hand buried in his pocket.

"You called, princess?" He asked, sending a smirk in the blonde's direction, causing her to roll her eyes. Turning his head to the dragon slayer, he smirked at her too as he withdrew his hand and got into a fighting stance. "I'm sorry Wendy, but I have to ensure that Lucy makes it through the S-Class Trials, so I must defeat you."

Wendy said nothing, but awaited his attack, and it didn't take long. Loke shot forward with a golden fist. Taking a step back, Wendy raised her arms to block the blow, and felt her arms sting with the impact. The man didn't give her much time to recover and swung fist after fist, causing the girl to remain on the defensive.

Eventually, a fist made its way through, and hit her on the shoulder, causing her to stumble back as she hissed in pain. Suddenly, she lost her balance as the ground started to tremble below her. The earth cracked, and Virgo emerged, swinging her leg up in a swift kick. It impacted underneath Wendy's chin, sending her head whipping back before she slammed into the ground.

Feeling her eyes water in pain, she raised one hand to her head and when she withdrew it, she could see the blood covering her palm. Grasping her shoulder with the other hand, she slowly pushed herself up and watched through slightly blurry vision as Virgo landed on the opposite side of her. Twisting her head back and forth between her opponents, she grimaced when she noticed Lucy approaching once again with her whip in hand.

Pushing herself onto her knees, she spread her arms out, feeling the magic flowing through her as the magic circles in her palms. "Arms, Armor." She chanted, feeling the support spells granting her more strength and defense, along with the speed from Vernier.

Deciding that she had to make a move, she ignored the pain ringing throughout her head and Wendy turned towards the maid spirit and shot towards her. Feeling the wind gather around her, Wendy swung her foot around and struck towards her with her heel. "Sky Dragon's Talon!" She shouted, and the gale of wind shot forward, lifting the maid off her feet and sent her flying back.

Wendy didn't have much more time to think before she felt something wrap around her ankle and was swiftly pulled back towards Loke by Lucy. Loke went on the attack immediately, sending fists and kicks towards the smaller girl, who struggled to block all the strikes.

Strikes were slipping through her defenses, and when she heard Virgo making her way back over from behind her and realized that she needed to get out of this quickly. Gathering the wind around her body, she propelled herself forward, slamming her entire body into Loke which sent them both tumbling forward.

Virgo finally made her way back over to Lucy although she was looking worn out. Wendy's attack had been much stronger than she had anticipated, and now her clothes were tattered, and she was struggling to breath evenly. Seeing both Loke and Wendy go tumbling after they collided, she went underground once again as she prepared to attack, but when she appeared on the surface, she wasn't anticipating the bluenette to be standing over with the winds swirling at furious speeds around her hands.

"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" Was all she had heard before she was sent flying through the air even faster than before, and before she could slam into the rocky walls, she disappeared with a golden flash.

Lucy winced when she saw her spirit get hit by the attack, and when Virgo disappeared she felt the magic within her drain even further. She knew that she couldn't match many when it came to physical combat, and so if she wanted a chance to continue the trials, she needed as much magic as possible, which meant that she had to end this fight soon by giving Loke a chance.

Preparing her whip, she advanced towards Wendy again, unraveling it behind her. Whipping her hand forward, the thin whip wrapped itself around Wendy's hand, who had engaged Loke once more. Despite getting her hand, she hadn't been fast enough to stop Wendy from sending a roar at the spirit, sending him flying back just like the last two spirits. When Lucy pulled back on the whip, Wendy stumbled backwards, but switched her glare to Lucy.

Wendy reached out with her other hand and grasped the line of the whip tightly. Using all her strength along with the wind swirling around them, she pulled on the whip and sent the blonde flying towards her. From behind her, she noticed Loke finally getting back up and starting to rush over to her, but he couldn't make it in time.

Using the wind to give her further strength, she slammed a fist into the girl's stomach, who wasn't even close to being able to block the swift strike from the dragon slayer. Lucy gasped as spit flew from her mouth and she hunched over, her hands cradling her stomach. Loke quickly disappeared with a flash, leaving the two girls alone once again. Swiping her hand up once more, Wendy yelled out "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" As her hand met Lucy's stomach for a second time, the wind burst out around them once again and Lucy was sent flying backwards.

Falling to one knee, Wendy heaved for air. Feeling her head pounding with pain and hand trembling, she winced at her bruised fingers. She had put more power into those attacks than she had meant to. Raising her other hand, she wiped away the sweat that dripped down her forehead before turning towards Lucy once more.

The blond lay motionless on the ground, and Wendy couldn't get a look at her face due to the mess of dirty hair that covered it. Pushing herself up, Wendy started to take a few steps closer. She was almost within arm's reach of the girl when a flash of gold stopped her in her tracks.

When the light quickly faded away, she saw a battered Loke kneeling over the celestial mage. His hair was caked with dirt, and his normally pristine suit was shredded. He laid a soft hand on Lucy's shoulder and remained there a moment longer. The cave was silent, no one moved, and no one said a word.

Finally, Loke moved, and when he turned to look at the smaller girl standing in front of him, she could see the pain that was in his eyes. "Go." he whispered, with a slight crack in his voice. "You've beaten her."

Feeling the edges of her lips curve downwards, the stared at the still figure in front of her for a moment longer before turning away. She raised one hand and pressed it against her head, trying to will the throbbing to stop, but only succeeded in covering her hand with more blood. The barrier blocking the exit tunnel dissipated quietly, but before Wendy entered, she turned and glanced back at the pair behind her one last time. Lucy was finally moving again, but was behind supported by Loke, who looked as if he was about to pass out himself.

Frowning and shaking her head, she turned away and pushed through the tunnel. The pain continued to ring throughout her body, but tried her best to ignore it, and eventually she was able to see light signifying the end of the tunnel. She was able to make out a few voices speaking and guessed that some others had already finished as well.

As the voices increased in volume, she knew that she had finally reached the end. Blinking a few times to get her eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed a small group of people standing at the end of the tunnel. Gajeel stood off to one side with a frown on his face. He was leaning against the edge of the exit, and he turned his eyes towards her as he heard Wendy approach.

Gray and Cana stood beside him, each staring at her with a surprised look. She made her way over to a lone rock a good distance from the group and took a seat, cradling her right hand in her left. Feeling the blood continue to slowly drip down her head, she ripped a small piece of cloth off from the edge of her shirt and wrapped it around her forehead as a make shift bandage. A fire continued to crackle in front of her, and as she leaned back against the stone wall behind her, she closed her eyes and tried to rest as she waited for the next trial.


	11. The Second Task, Part 1!

****_Chapter 11: The Second Task, Part 1!_ ** **

_It’s tough being alone in the world. With no one to count on and trust, many times it leaves you feeling vulnerable, unwanted. Useless._

\----

Wendy sat slumped against a rock as Erza stood behind her wrapping some new bandages around her head. She hadn’t specifically asked for the scarlet-haired mage to do it, but after struggling a bit on her own and at the woman’s never-ending persistence, she didn’t deny the woman’s offer of help.

Earlier on, Wendy had changed out of her previous set of clothes in favor for a warmer outfit. She wore thick, grey pants along with black snow-boots. On top of the plain white long-sleeved shirt she wore, was a slightly puffy blue winter coat. Her hat lay off to side as Erza worked to place the new bandages on. But on top of it all, Natsu’s scarf remained. Wrapped tight around her neck.

The rest of the guild was bustling around her. Mages moved to and fro, chatting away with the candidates, preparing some food, and even placing bets on who they thought would win the competition. As the throbs of pain only continued to increase in her head, she couldn’t help the irritated frown from forming on her face.

Wendy winced when a voice rang out from behind her. “…You should be more careful next time.” Erza began, as she grabbed another bandage off the ground. Placing it gently atop Wendy’s head, she gave the girl’s shoulder a small pat.

“I understand the desire of wanting to prove yourself to the guild, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of-“ Erza was cut off when Wendy stood up abruptly, knocking the loose bandage off of her head. As she opened her mouth to speak, Erza’s mouth clamped shut when she switched her gaze to Wendy’s face.

Still not facing the older mage, Wendy glared out into the crowd of people. Watching everyone laugh and run around; it was annoying her to no end. Clenching her hand into a fist, she turned her head slightly to look at Erza through the corner of her eye. “I don’t need your opinion.”

Erza’s will to reply vanished the instant she met Wendy’s eyes. She could see the emotion swirling inside, and it did nothing to settle her nerves. It was entirely different from the small, adorable Wendy she remembered from just a few years back.

But she never got the chance to finish her thoughts before Wendy spoke again. “But most of all. I don’t need your pity.”

With that, Wendy strode away blatantly ignoring Erza’s slight stuttering as she attempted to call her back. But as she lost sight of the girl, Erza let her hands fall limp by her sides. She didn’t know what had caused the drastic change in attitude over the course of the past few years. But seeing the effect that it had on her, she wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to know.

Bending over to pick up the bandage that had fallen, she noticed a pair of eyes watching her. Turning her head, she met the even gaze of Laxus. The man was sitting away by his grandfather, a mug of ale in hand.

Neither tried to move closer to the other, let alone begin a conversation. And after holding his gaze for a few moments longer, she switched her attention back down to the small box of supplies that she had brought.

It did not take her long to repack all the supplies and move back over to where her team was resting. Although she was distinctly aware of Laxus’ gaze on her the entire time.

\----

Ignoring the comments sent her way by her guildmates, Wendy made her way to a quieter corner of the cave. Wincing as she settled down, she unstrapped the small canteen of water that had been bouncing from her waist.

Taking a swig of the drink, she delicately leaned back against the rocky wall. Her head continued to throb despite the bandaging and rest she had been given. And it was beginning to become more annoying than painful.

Sweeping her eyes over the crowd of guild members, she final came to a stop when she saw Lucy’s form sitting on the ground.

The blond was still clutching her stomach, which had been attended to by Erza before she had gone to help Wendy.

Gray sat beside her holding a small cup of water, which he would let her take every so often. The two had been talking for a while, and it hadn’t been too hard to decipher what they were discussing. It wasn’t as if the glances they kept shooting in her direction were exactly discreet.

Wendy only kept her eyes on them for a moment before moving on. Lucy could deal with the pain as time passed, and it wasn’t as if there was anything that she could help with presently. She had been previously directed by the master to hold herself back from healing anyone to save her energy for the later trials. And she wasn’t going to make a move to do differently anytime soon.

Grunting softly, she rested her head against the wall behind her as she closed her eyes. Trying to block out all the chaos around her would have been next to impossible, and there was no point in wishing for it to calm down. The crazy and rowdy nature of the guild was what made Fairy Tail what is was.

Trying to ignore the endless throbbing of pain in her head, she gripped the flask of water with a trembling hand. She couldn’t afford to let the memories of the guild or her emotions get in the way of her achieving her goal. Not when she was so close.

That had been part of the reason for being so harsh with Lucy, she reasoned. She needed to achieve this goal to fulfill her promise to Natsu. To show everyone else that she is powerful enough to stand alongside everyone else. That she no longer needed to be protected.

Perhaps that had also been a cause for the sense of satisfaction she had felt after the fight against Lucy. Walking back into the camp with only a small bump on the head while Lucy had been helped in by her spirits. Noticing the looks of shock on some of the members faces, as they had no doubt expected Lucy to be the victor of their bout.

Wendy knew that she probably shouldn’t feel as good as she did about it. To be feeling such satisfaction at defeating another one of her close friends in a fight. But she was growing sick and tired of the others babying her. She didn’t need them watching over her all the time anymore. And this felt like the best method of showing them that.

She was knocked out of her thoughts as a large fist slammed down onto the ground on the opposite side of the clearing, causing a sharp pain to erupt in her head. Wincing, she opened her eyes to find the master standing on top of a large rock waiting for the rest of the guild to quiet down.

Surprisingly it only took a few moments for all the talking to cease, the anticipation of the next trial beating the will to continue talking.

“I know that many of you have been awaiting this announcement.” The master spoke, staring out into the crowd before him. He shifted his gaze between the four remaining S-Class candidates, keeping his eyes on Wendy for a bit longer than the other three.

Moving his gaze away, he turned to look at the four S-Class mages standing behind him. “Before we get into the details, let’s first congratulate the four mages to have made it this far. To those who were defeated, fret not. There is always next year.”

A round of applause rang throughout the clearing. A few members whistled and cheered, sending out good lucks to the member they were rooting for. And when the master raised a single hand, they quieted down once again.

“The next trial will involve each of the current S-Class mages standing behind me.” Many of the guild members eyes shifted to the mentioned group as the master withdrew a set of four square wooden amulets from within his thick wizard saint coat. Each had the Fairy Tail guild mark engraved within the wooden slab.

Handing each of the mages a single necklace, he turned back to the crowd. “Each mage with keep an amulet around their neck. They will be given an hour to find a spot on the mountain where they will wait for a challenger.”

“Each candidate is required to find one of the S-Class mages.” Once again, the master shifted his gaze between the remaining candidates. “Your task is to retrieve the amulet from around their neck and successfully bring it back to me.”

“Keep in mind, that once you find one of the S-Class mages, they are the one you must face. When the mage acknowledges you, a barrier will be put up to prevent any outsiders from interfering. Remember, the task is to bring me the amulet, but there are no rules on how to attain it in the first place.”

Turning around to the older mages gathered behind him once more, he nodded his head and with a flash they disappeared, only leaving a light wisp of smoke behind. “The one hour starts now. As soon as the gong sounds, the trial has begun. I wish each candidate the best of luck.”

The cheers that rang out after he stepped off the rock seemed to shake the entire cave. Wendy covered her ears with her hands to block out the overwhelming noise, but only had minimal success. But this time, the excitement didn’t die down.

Quickly growing irritated with the lack of quiet, Wendy stood up and made her way over to the entrance of the cave, which was much easier said than done. Trying to push her way through the hoard of people proved to be much harder than anticipated, especially when many tried to wish her luck or give her a pat on the back.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she finally came to a stop near the snow-covered entrance. Rubbing her hands together to create some heat, she quickly grabbed one of the lit torches by the entryway and held it close, basking in its heat.

The dark air was frisk as wisps of snow blew throughout the mountain. She could still feel herself shivering despite the warmth the torch provided. She couldn’t see very far in the dusk of the mountain, but she couldn’t help but wonder just where the S-Class mages had gone. They were out there somewhere.

Stretching a hand up, she delicately fixed her small winter cap that had begun to cover her eyes due to the wind. Despite having guessed that the second part of the trials had something to do with fighting, she didn’t think that they would be fighting the S-Class mages. At least not yet.

She now fully understood why the master had told her to save her magic as much as possible. To pass this part of the trial, she was going to need as much as possible. Undoubtedly, the other candidates were coming to the same realization as well. And were no doubt trying to formulate plans on how they were to go about passing this phase.

Despite having moved outside, she could still hear the bustling noise from everyone inside. But she wallowed in the peace that the snowy mountain brought her. There was no sense in stressing over the upcoming trial. Not when she didn’t yet know who she was going to face.

The sound of shuffling behind her interrupted her thoughts. Not turning around, she could hear the figure swear softly under his breath. It didn’t take much longer for her to figure out who it was. And within moments, the hulking form of Gajeel stood next to her, his thick arms crossed over his broad chest.

The older man stood heads higher than her, with the top of her head barely reaching the middle of his torso. Over the past few years he had let his spiky, black hair grow out even more, allowing it to flow down to his waist. He was in his typical black boots and brown pants but had a long-sleeved tunic instead of his usual sleeveless one.

He was grumbling to himself as he rubbed the top of his head with his right hand. If Wendy had to guess he had probably banged his head into the ceiling of the entryway on his way out.

His left hand was buried deep into one of the tunic’s pockets, where she could barely make out the edge of his iron studded gloves.

The pair stood in silence for a bit longer, with Wendy looking away from the man, while he continued nursing his head. Having relieved himself of the pain, Gajeel lowered his hand and glanced over at the small girl next to him, but Wendy did nothing in response.

Seeming to contemplate his words for a few moments, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before sighing and clenching his hand into a fist. “You’ve grown up.”

Wendy still made no move to look at him, but she felt the edge of her lips begin to curve down into a grimace. She didn’t know where he was going with this, but the odds were that she wasn’t going to like it.

It didn’t take much to sense the unease that the man felt, as it was practically radiating from every inch of his body. He relaxed his clenched fist as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. “Look,” he continued, taking a moment to think of his next words. “I’m not good with this kind of stuff, but you know that already.”

Breathing out a sigh, he placed his un-pocketed hand on her shoulder, noticing how the girl tensed underneath. “The rest of us are here for you,” he spoke with a gruff voice. Wendy was about to shrug his hand off her shoulder, but he removed it before she could.

“We know that you have changed, hell, everyone has after what happened. But you don’t need to do everything alone. Trust me. I learned that from experience.”

Her eyes widened ever so slightly, and she could feel the edges of her grimace ease up. She had expected some sort of sappy speech, just as the others always tried to give her, but even so, she didn’t exactly expect those words to come out of Gajeel’s mouth.

Wendy’s thoughts were interrupted as he spoke again, but this time she felt herself freeze at his words. “Natsu may have been hard-headed and stubborn, but if there is anything that I had learned from him, it was that a guild is a family. We always have each other’s backs.”

Staring down into the snowy ground, Wendy could sense her hands begin to tremble as they grasped onto the torch. She felt the faintest trace of tears begin to well up in her eyes and she quickly blinked to get them to disperse.

“But don’t get me wrong,” he spoke, his voice sounding a bit lighter, “If it comes down to it and I have to face you… I’m going to beat you into the ground. Ain’t no one becoming S-Class but me.”

Her eyes widened drastically before settling down as a small smirk appeared across her face. As she was still facing away from the man he couldn’t see it, but he accepted her silence as a response. Turning to make his way back into the cave, he froze when he heard her speak up.

“Likewise.”

Letting out a heavy guffaw, he stood there for only a moment longer before continuing into the cave, laughing the entire time.

\----

The rest of the hour flew by. Wendy having been embroiled in her thoughts barely noticed when the large gong sounded throughout the cave. It was only a matter of seconds before the other candidates stood beside her outside.

She only spotted Gray and Cana for a moment before they were off, disappearing into the darkness of the mountain before them. Gajeel stood there for a moment, just long enough to give her a quick nod before he was off as well. Wendy cursed at her lack of attentiveness and rushed forward as well, pushing through the thick snow.

Weaving in between the trees wasn’t the difficult part. It was the lack of sight and the foot and a half of snow that she had to push through that proved to be a challenge. Every so often there would be a torch ablaze, but besides that there was nothing that provided any extra light.

Pushing forward, she didn’t know exactly where she was going, but figured that if she kept moving she would stumble upon some sign of someone eventually.

Eventually, she could see the number of trees begin to fade. The space slowly beginning to open into a small clearing. She could barely make out the edge of a cliff ahead of her, and as she slowly pushed herself closer to the edge, could make out the vast expanse of the mountain range below. It was then that she realized that she must have made her way up higher on the mountain.

Wiping away some of the snow that had begun to build up on her face, she continued. It only took a few more minutes of labored steps before she could make out a set of four torches glowing brightly in a square by the steepest part of the cliff. And in the middle, she could make out the bright blond hair of the figure looking out over the edge of the cliff.

Laxus stood alone at the edge, his hands buried deep in his coat pockets. For once, the coat wasn’t draped around his shoulders, but was instead being worn. Thick black boots covered his feet at the bottom of the dark pants he was wearing. But the most prominent feature was the wooden Fairy Tail emblem hanging from his neck.

As she approached he had turned to look straight at her, a neutral look etched across his face. And as she stared into his grey eyes, she had unknowingly reached up to grasp the edge of the scale-like scarf around her neck. A shiver went through her body as she took a small step forward.

“Wendy.” he spoke, a small smile appearing on his face. “I suppose I should’ve seen this coming.”

The bluenette said nothing in response but noticed that he had taken a small step forward when he removed one hand from his coat. She could easily see the Fairy Tail amulet in his hand as he held it away from his body, taunting her with it. The snow fluttering around them had begun to pick up speed, slowly making it more difficult to see the figure standing before her.

“This is what you need, is it not?” Her eyes narrowed slightly at his words, catching a glimpse of his serious face once again. “You may not realize it but I’ve been keeping an eye on you for a while now. What you did to Lucy back there was a bit harsh don’t you think?”

Receiving no answer, the man dropped the amulet and let it fall to a rest upon his chest. “But no. It wasn’t to you. To every other candidate it probably wouldn’t be seen that way either. After all, there is no holding back when becoming S-Class.”

He took a few steps forward and raised his hand out in front of him. As he closed his hand into a fist, lightning began to crackle around it. Wendy could feel beads of sweat begin to form on her forehead. The magical pressure the man was emitting almost felt as if it was trying to force her to the ground, but she refused to submit.

“But I’m no S-Class candidate,” he continued, never moving his eyes from hers. “And I won’t hold back.”

The snow swirled around them, continuing to pick up speed as the wind began to swirl around Wendy. Her hair was flying with the wind, and she could feel the air providing her with more strength. Ignoring the throbbing pain that continued to grow in her head, she began to push her way forward.

But after taking a few labored steps through the thick snow, she paused. Through the snow, she noticed the man slowly drop his fist, and before she could blink, he was gone.

Tensing up, she could feel her senses flaring, searching desperately to find him. The snow continued to whip around her, trying to force her eyes closed, but she fought against it. Taking a few small steps forward, she came to a stop next to a small boulder and leaned against it. Raising her hands, she attempted to use the wind to slow some of the snow blowing around, but it was to no avail.

A flash of light to her right garnered her attention and as she began to turn a fist struck her abdomen. Spittle flew from her mouth as she hunched over, instinctually grabbing her stomach with both hands. She barely had a moment to register the pain before she was hit again under the chin. Her head flew back as her teeth clamped shut. Pain shot through her jaw, and she was sure that she had heard a few cracks.

Stumbling back a few steps, she shook her head to clear the ever-growing pain. The wind that had been swirling around her had all but dissipated, with the swift attacks causing her to lose her control over the element. Taking a few quivering steps back, she clenched her jaw with her hand as her eyes scoured the landscape before her, looking for any sign of her opponent.

She wasn’t looking long before Laxus appeared before her, hands buried in his coat pockets once again. He just watched as she shifted her jaw slightly. She could tell that it wasn’t broken, but it would sure leave a nasty bruise.

Narrowing her dark-brown eyes, she took a small step forward and dropped the hand that was holding her jaw. Laxus’ face remained impassive, while his body was as still as a statue. He was watching her, analyzing her, and she knew that. But it was time to show him some of the new tricks that she had learned over the past few years.

Leaping forward, she wasn’t surprised when her fist was only met with air. Turning her body side to side, she once again searched throughout the mountaintop for any sign of the mage. Keeping one hand close to her body, she stretched out the other as she used her control over the wind to slow the snow swirling throughout the air.

She took a soft breath to slow her heart that was wracking her body. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t spot him. Glaring out into the storm, she grimaced when she still couldn’t find him. She could sense his presence due to the high pressure his magic was radiating, but visually all she could see was the storm raging around her.

Deciding to switch up tactics, she closed her eyes tight. She could still hear the storm swirling throughout the air, and bristle of the tree branches waving in the wind. But there was something else, and when she focused she was finally able to realize what it was. Footsteps.

Raising her right arm away from her body, she winced as she felt his fist collide with her forearm. Switching her gaze from her arm to his gray eyes, she noticed the small look of surprise on his face. But that was all she noticed before a searing pain erupted from her abdomen.

Gasping out, she had no chance of avoiding the lightning that was launched at her. She yelled out in pain as she was sent flying back, her limp body crashing to the ground. Slowly pushing herself onto her back, she barely noticed the flash of light before he was upon her again with one foot raised above her face.

Ignoring the pain that flared up in her right arm, she caught the foot as he brought it down over her face. Drops of sweat slid to the ground below as she heaved for a breath. Her arms were trembling from the effort of trying to hold his foot from colliding with her face.

Letting out a small grunt of pain, she threw the foot to the side, followed by a swift strike to the back of his knee. The man quickly caught himself before colliding with the ground, but it gave her enough time to push herself back onto her feet.

As expected, he didn’t stay down for long. Pushing himself back onto his feet, he looked back at her with a tiny smirk etched across his face. “Smart move.” He spoke, reaching down to rub the back of his knee lightly. “You moved faster than I thought you would. So don’t expect to catch me like that again.”

Not offering the man a reply, she spread out her feet and bent her knees, bracing herself for the eventual attack. Despite only waiting for only a few seconds, it felt like hours for her. Her labored breathing along with the swift gusts of the winds being the only things she could hear as she watched him prepare his next attack.

The man blinked, and the next time she gazed up into his eyes, the grey orbs were pulsing with power. He was taking his time, trying to put her on edge and she knew it. But that thought did nothing to settle the nerves wracking through her body. The lightning began to build up around his body, sparks wrapping around his limbs almost like snakes.

His eyes began to grow brighter, and she watched with growing fear as he smiled. The lightning crackled around his mouth, lighting up his upper body and making his already prominent canines stand out even more.

“It’s time to take this up a notch, Wendy.” The magic power surrounding the mage was overwhelming. Seemingly twice what it had been only a few minutes ago. All her instincts were telling her to run, to get as far away from the source of this power as possible. But she pushed through it, bracing herself even more as she awaited the attack.

He spread his arms out to the side, the muscles on his arms bulging with strength and power. Taking a small step forward, he took a deep breath before shouting, “Lightning Dragon’s Roar!”

A bright flash of light erupted from his mouth, causing the small girl to cry out in pain as her hands shot up to clutch her searing eyes. She had only barely managed to open one eye when she noticed the torrent of lightning head straight towards her.

Not wasting a moment, she dived to the side, crying out louder once again as the lightning grazed her side. She collapsed to the ground, her muscles tightening up as spasms shook her entire body. She let out a pain-filled scream, unable to do anything as the lightning coursed through her veins.

Through tear-filled eyes, she could see the hulking form of the mage standing before her getting closer. She could distinctly smell the scent of burn flesh. Wrinkling her noise at the disgusting smell, she placed a delicate hand on her side and winced at the pain. Glancing down, she could see the burns that covered her entire side, having ripped straight through the thick clothes that she was wearing.

She let out a small whimper when a large hand reached down to grab the back of her coat, lifting her up into the air as if she weighed nothing. She weakly glanced up into the man’s eyes, not willing to do much else.

“You wanted power did you not?”

His voice was muffled, and she was barely able to make out the words over the ringing in her head. Her muscles still burned, and when she attempted to raise a hand, her body refused to cooperate.

Wincing as he tightened his grip, he raised her up higher into the air. The feeling was just beginning to return to her body, allowing her to wiggle her fingers and toes. With her adrenaline dying down she could feel herself shivering, the frisk air doing nothing to help her.

“If this is all that you have to offer. Then there is no point in attempting to pass these trials.”

Narrowing her eyes, her lips turned downwards into a grimace. While his words annoyed her to no end, she couldn’t help but agree with him. He was absolutely dominating this fight, but he couldn’t keep going forever. She needed to find an opening.

Twirling her wrist slightly, she could sense the feeling return to more of her body. Gathering a bit of saliva in her mouth, she spat right into his face. Despite letting out an annoyed sound, he did nothing more than raise his other arm to wipe the spittle off his face. But in doing so, had loosened his grip on her collar.

Not wasting a single moment, she tightened her right hand into a fist and launched forward, colliding with his throat. He let out a surprised grunt of pain as he dropped her into the freezing snow below. Grabbing his throat with his hand, he took a few shaky steps backwards.

Wendy rolled around in the snow, trying to desperately make her way onto her feet. Despite the success of the plan, her limbs still felt like jelly. She had barely made it onto her hands and knees before she felt his magical power growing once again.

Tilting her head up, she watched through hazy eyes as the lightning began to build around his body. Laxus’ eyes were no longer grey, but instead were bright yellow, pulsating with power. She could just barely make out the Fairy Tail amulet hanging from his neck.

Shakily pushing herself onto her feet, she took a few labored steps forward through the thick blanket of snow. She couldn’t back down now, not when she was so close. No matter how strong the opponent, she needed to find the strength. To never give up.

Taking step after step, she made her way closer to him. He had been watching her, noting every single step she made towards him. His bright eyes still pulsing with power as the lightning continued to spark around him. Reaching one hand up to the shoulder of his coat, he pulled the coat from his broad shoulders before letting it drop to the snowy ground, leaving him in his black undershirt.

The air was swiped from her lungs as she felts the pressure around him seemingly double once again. Collapsing to her knees, she couldn’t stop the tears from forming in her eyes. Laxus’ body seemed to expand. His biceps thickened, shoulder’s becoming broader.

Swinging his arms out to his sides, he let out a roar as the lightning burst out tenfold. It shot up into the sky, the lighting brightening up the area around them. Staring down at Wendy’s small form, his eyes and mouth were both filled with lightning.

Wendy lay on the ground, gasping for breath with tears sliding down her face. The only time she had felt magical pressure like this before was when she had faced Hades with the rest of her old team. It was overwhelming, continuously sucking the air right out of her lungs when she tried to take a breath and forcing the rest of her body down to the ground.

The crunch of the snow with each step was the only way that she noticed Laxus standing by her once again. Forcing her hazy gaze up, she stared into the lightning filled eyes with fear. She couldn’t contest with him. He was on a level of magical power that many could only dream of attaining.

Taking a shuddering breath, she raised a trembling hand up and grabbed onto his calf. The simple motion burning through the remaining energy that she had been able to muster up. Slowly, she raised her head to meet his fierce, bright eyes with her own dark and weary ones.

When he reached down and grabbed her around the neck, there was nothing available within her to try to even attempt to prevent him from lifting her up. Once again, her entire body was limp, hanging from his grasp due to gravity only.

By this point, she could feel her consciousness fading. His grip around her throat was like a vice. He was squeezing his hand more and more, causing the girl to gasp and wheeze for breath, growing desperate for any air.

Raising her higher into the air, he slammed her into the ground by her throat. She let out a pain-filled scream as her body impacted the ground, sending the snow flying up into the air only to flutter back down to the ground as she lay limp.

Heaving for breath, her dark-brown eyes watched the darkened sky above with an empty gaze. There was nothing more that she could do. Despite her pride urging her against it, she knew that she could no longer continue to fight.

Taking in another shuddering breath, she delicately raised her right hand up to her neck. She winced as she made contact with the bruised skin. Her chest flared with pain with every breath, and she had begun to lose feeling of her legs long ago.

 _I must look like a mess._  She thought to herself, grimacing at the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. She didn’t know why she was singling out specific limbs anymore. Her entire body ached, killed even.

But despite all of that, there was only one thing that hurt her more as she lay in the snow slowly drifting into the realm of unconsciousness. The thought that she had lost.


	12. The Second Task, Part 2!

****Chapter 12: The Second Task, Part 2!** **

“You’re not giving up, are you?”

The voice was muffled, sounding far away. Blinking her eyes sluggishly, she turned her head to the side slowly. She could make out the figure of Laxus standing a little away from her, standing as still as a statue. He was staring straight at her, his grey eyes once again visible without the lightning.

Letting her head fall back onto the cold ground below, she stared up into the night sky. This wasn’t how she had foreseen any of this occurring. Not after having worked so hard to get here. Not after everything that had happened.

****\----** **

_Struggling against the chains that held her against the wall, Wendy felt the fear bubbling in the pit of her stomach as the figures moved closer. She could see the weapons twirling in their hands and sense their magic despite being across the room._

_“We had warned you.” A voice spoke, clearly feminine but she couldn’t pinpoint where it had come from. “You should have accepted the offer when you had the chance. Now we have no choice.”_

_A sudden jerk of the chains soon had her sprawled out across the floor. She tried to bring her hands back into her chest, but the figure holding onto the chains didn’t give. Letting out a scream of frustration, her dread only grew more when she felt some one grab her legs._

_Hoisted up into the air, she thrashed about to get them to let go. But despite her best efforts, their grip on her never slacked. Next thing she knew, she was thrown on top of a wooden table, with her arms and legs immediately being shackled to the legs._

_“There is a lesson you need to learn.” The voice was closer this time, it was coming from her right. As she turned her head to try and make out the speaker, she was met with the figure of a tall woman. She was wearing a mask shaped like a skull over her face, with the only things visible being her dark purple eyes and the few strands of purple hair that stuck out from the mask._

_The rest of her body was covered in some sort of armor, with what looked to be bones bolted down in random places across it. Wendy couldn’t identify what kind of bones they were, and she didn’t want to think about where the lady had gotten them from. The woman reached out a gauntlet-covered hand and placed it on top of Wendy’s exposed head._

_Wendy blinked and when her eyes opened, all the figures were gone. In their place stood the guild, her family. Erza stood where the woman had been, her hand still on her head. Gray and Lucy held onto her feet at the end of the table, and at the top Mira and Gajeel held down her hands._

_Turning away, she saw the purple-haired woman now standing to her left, a spear in hand. “You are weak. Just a little girl getting in way over her head. Just give in and make it easier for all of us. Why burden anyone else with needing to protect you?”_

_She suddenly felt the grips around her arms and legs get tighter, and soon she was wincing in pain. Tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill out, but she blinked quickly to disperse them._

_The woman began walking to the other side of the room, where another figure was chained to the wall. Raising the tip of the spear, she pushed it against the figures back to push him closer to Wendy. And when he shuffled into the light, Wendy cried out._

_He stood hunched over, the right side of his face burned and scarred beyond recognition. His hands trembled, rattling the chains that kept him in place. He only had a few ripped pieces of cloth to cover himself, and she was instantly reminded of the scarf that was wrapped tightly around her neck._

_“How could you stand up to me if he couldn’t?”_

_Wendy screamed as she struggled against the chains that held her down, just wishing that they would break. But that would never happen, and she was forced to watch the woman raise the spear that was grasped tightly in her hand. Screaming at the woman to stop again, she was powerless as the woman’s eyes glowed with power._

_“Useless.” she spoke, bringing the spear down._

****\----** **

_No._ The one word rang through her head as she stared up at the bright, night sky. She couldn’t. Not after working so hard for so long. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Delicately raising a hand, she placed her palm on the ground, forcing herself to ignore the shock of the cold snow on her body and shakily began to push herself up.

Laxus watched her from the same spot across the clearing, a single eyebrow raised. “Oh?” Taking a few steps forward, he let another grin settle on his face. “So, you do have more spirit left in you.”

Having finally made it onto her hands and knees, she turned her head to watch him out of the corner of her eye. Ignoring the locks of blue hair that whipped across her face in the wind, she continued to struggle for breath to attempt to refill some of her depleted magic reserves.

Pushing herself up further, she managed to plant her feet onto the ground and straighten her body. Her legs felt like noodles and her vision was blurred, but she managed to keep herself up. She allowed her arms to fall limp by her side as she continued to watch Laxus.

Feeling the familiar pull in her gut, the wind began to pick up speed around her, although it wasn’t close to the speeds she had been pushing it to before. She sucked a bit of the air into her open mouth, breathing out a sigh as she felt her body slowly regain some of its lost strength.

It was all she was able to do before Laxus was on her again, right arm raised in a fist aimed towards her head. Her body screamed in protest and her legs felt like they were on fire as she barely managed to move out of his path. Raising her arms in front of her, she let out a burst of air from her palms and she launched herself back, putting space between them once again.

Digging her heels into the snow below, she skids to a stop. Swinging her arms out to her side, she could see the light green glow of the spell light up beside her. “Ile Vernier.” She muttered, immediately feeling the difference in her body below.

Taking a few small steps to the right, she took notice of Laxus once again watching from the opposite side of the clearing. He was giving her time to prepare, most likely wanting to see just how much fight she had left in her. Still keeping her arms up, she let the soft green glow envelope her hands once again. “Ile Arms.”

She quickly debated about whether she should cast her last enchantment but decided against it. She needed to preserve as much magic as possible. She’d have to try and make due for the time being. Taking a small step back with her right foot, she braced herself before pushing off the balls of her feet and launching forward.

She was upon the man in an instant, swinging her foot up at his chest. He let out a light grunt as he stumbled back when her foot connected. Not wasting any time, she swiftly landed on her feet and swung a punch straight towards the center of his face. The punch was interrupted as he brought up his forearm to block it, but when the two limbs connected there was a burst of wind and he was sent tumbling backwards through the snow.

Wendy watched as he slowed to a stop about three meters away. It only took a moment for him to stand once again, although this time he was rubbing his right forearm with his opposite hand. “Well, I see that your enchantments have definitely improved.”

Clenching her hands as she braced herself, she never took her eyes off his form. The two pairs of eyes only met for a moment longer before she launched forward once again. The glow of the enchantments still shone around her hands and feet, but she could see the light beginning to waver. There wasn’t much longer until they would dissipate completely.

Instead of waiting for her like before, Laxus chose to meet her in the middle. Moving in with the flash of lightning, the two were upon each other in an instant. Wendy launched the first punch, which was swiftly blocked by Laxus’ arm who retaliated with a fist of his own.

This continued for minutes, with the help of the elements allowing the two mages to move faster than normally possible. Wendy grunted as she felt Laxus’ lightning covered fist slam into her exposed stomach. Gritting her teeth, she swung her fist up in retaliation and heard the satisfying crack of her fist meeting his chin in return.

Watching his head whip back from the force of her punch, she quickly took notice of the chance it gave her. Flipping backwards, she swung her foot up right in between his legs and silently winced as he let out the pain-filled scream when her foot connected.

Whipping her feet around to land, she didn’t waste a moment in taking a deep breath and letting the wind begin to swirl around her mouth. Spreading her feet to better brace herself, she let her arms swing out behind her as she let out the spell. “Sky Dragon’s Roar!” she screamed, putting as much power as she could muster up into the spell.

The tornado that formed was easily twice her size in both height and width. It was upon the lightning mage in an instant, who only managed to raise one arm to defend himself. The twister completely enveloped him and went on to destroy the landscape behind him. Several trees fell as the snow flew about wildly.

Using the time that the attack brought her, she sucked in a bit more of the air around her. The twister was beginning to fade, and to her chagrin she could see his form standing in the distance. He had been pushed back quite a bit and she could barely make out the purple bruise forming on his arm, but he was still standing nonetheless.

Feeling a slight tingle in her arms and legs, she looked down just as the soft glow of the enchantments completely faded away. Once again, her body felt heavy and the pain returned to her worn down arms. Wincing as she flexed her fingers, she tried to force herself to ignore the pain, but it wasn’t working.

“So, the enchantments are gone.” Laxus spoke, causing her eyes to flick up to him. “It’s clear that you’ve been training just as hard as ever. It’s a shame that we weren’t able to fight when you were at your full strength.”

Unconsciously, her lips curved down into a frown, but she remained silent. Her gaze shifted down to the amulet that was still hanging from his neck. It was clear that he noticed, because he let out a small chuckle and grabbed it with one hand. Ripping it from his neck, Wendy’s eyes narrowed as he tossed it into snow between them.

“I know you need it.” Brushing aside the pain as she clenched her hands, she never took her eyes off the amulet. “If you can grab it, then you succeed.”

Laxus rolled his shoulders and buried his hands into his pockets. She could feel the magical pressure begin to build up around him once again, and within moments lightning was curling around his body. “You will have accomplished your goal once you grab that amulet.”

Spreading his arms out to the side, his eyes began to glow a bright blue as the lightning filled them. “So, come on then! Show me just how strong you have become!”

Wendy’s eye twitched in slight irritation, but she launched herself forward and reached a hand out to the object sitting in the snow. It was barely an arm’s length away before Laxus was upon her. She tried to quickly withdraw her arm, but he grasped it tightly in his right hand. The lightning sent shockwaves through her body, causing her to spasm and lose feeling in her right arm.

Before she could do anything else, he lifted her up by the arm and swung her over his shoulder. She felt the light feeling of being airborne for a moment before she was thrown down flat on her back. The impact knocked the wind out of her and she only had a split second to register the pain before Laxus lifted her up by the arm again and buried a fist into her stomach which sent her tumbling through the snow.

She came to stop when her back slammed into a tree. Screaming in pain, her back arched and she clutched her stomach with her left hand. Turning her tear-filled gaze down to her right arm, she cried out when she noticed the bruises and burns travelling down from her elbow to the tips of her fingers.

The pain was unbearable, and she could smell the horrible stench of burnt flesh. Waves of pain flowed from the back to the front of her head. As she looked down at her wounded torso, a few tears escaped and made their way down her cheeks. She let her left arm fall into the snow beside her uncaringly.

She was so close. So close that she could almost touch the wood of the Fairy Tail symbol. Laxus stood beside it, having let the lightning die down once again. She could feel her heart beating in her chest as he stared at her crumpled form. She blinked and the next thing she knew, he was right in front of her with the amulet in hand.

“Do you know what this stands for?”

His voice was muffled, almost sounding as if it was miles away. Her head lolled back against the tree behind her as she tried to speak, but nothing came out. He brought the amulet closer to her face, so that it was right in front of her eyes.

“This symbol stands for our family. For Fairy Tail. But you know that, so why do you continue to fight against it?”

Wendy’s eyes narrowed as her lips trembled softly. She knew it was true. It was what Natsu had preached non-stop to his friends and during his fights. It was the same exact lesson that Natsu had taught Laxus on top of the Cathedral all those years ago. But she couldn’t go back. She couldn’t to lose anyone else close to her.

****\----** **

_Wendy gasped in pain, falling to her knees before the taller woman. The bodies of her comrades lay all around her, some moving, while others staying eerily still. She slowly reached out to the man lying in front of her, desperately wanting to help, when she was struck in the back._

_Getting the wind knocked out of her, she fell forward onto her forearms. Both arms were shaking, strained with the effort of trying to hold her injured body off the floor. She didn’t know what had happened. One minute she had the upper hand fighting the opposing mage, and the next… everyone else was there._

_“This will always be your greatest weakness.” Wendy slowly turned her head to look at the dark-haired mage standing behind her, shooting a glare in her direction with the corner of her eye. The woman frowned as she continued to twirl the spear in her right hand. “It’s a shame to see so much potential goes to waste. If only you’d learn.”_

_Moving faster than Wendy was able to see, the woman hit her side with a powerful kick, sending the smaller girl rolling a few feet away. Spitting out a glob of blood, Wendy slowly turned and faced the woman once again, the feeling of fear growing within her._

_The woman raised her hands, motioning to the fallen bodies all around them. “They make you weak! Why can’t you see that?” Raising her foot, she slammed one of their faces into the dirt._

_“I learned a long time ago. Way before you were even born. And now look at me. I have power many people can only dream of!”_

_Letting out a deep laugh, the woman switched her gaze back to the young mage. “Just give up. I tried to show you the way, and yet you refused to listen. Now you will die.”_

****\----** **

Laxus crouched down in front of her, resting his arms on his knees. “You need to let it go. You better than anyone should know that family makes you stronger, not weaker.”

Pushing herself closer to the tree, she dug her hands into the snow below. She didn’t want to listen to this, all she needed was that amulet. Raising her leg weakly, she lightly kicked against his shin. It didn’t move him, nor affect him at all really, but it seemed that he got the message as he stood and took a few steps back.

“Fine.” he spoke, tossing the amulet beside her. “I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince someone who won’t be listen.” Turning away, he began to walk in the direction that she could only assume the camp was in.

Wendy stared down at the amulet beside her hand. Withdrawing her left hand from the snow, she reached over and tentative fingers and grabbed the edge of the wood. The shakily brought it up to her chest and held it against her.

She could achieve her goal. She could take this back to the camp, show everyone that she was strong enough to make it to the last task. Become S-Class and prove to everyone that she was no longer a child, no longer weak.

Her trembling fingers shook against her chest.  _No_. Not like this. She threw the wooden amulet back at the man, who stopped when it landed softly in the snow behind him. Turning his head, his eyes widened slightly at the sight of Wendy standing up behind him, although she was leaning heavily against the tree.

“No!” she yelled, the tears sliding down her cheeks. “How could I expect everyone to think I’m stronger if you just give it to me?!” Not saying a word, Laxus continued to watch her as he turned around fully and crossed his arms over his chest.

Taking a wavering breath, Wendy pushed herself off the tree and stumbled forward a few steps before regaining her balance. “Don’t you think that I know that Fairy Tail is my family!?” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“This was the guild that took me in when Cait Shelter was no more! The first time I had a family who watched over me no matter what!” The air around the small girl began to whip violently, causing her hair and the end of the scarf to whip around in the air.

“But I don’t want to lose anyone else! I’ve been trying to get stronger so that no one has to worry about watching over me anymore.” Her voice faded out towards the end of her last words, the trembling in her hands only beginning to worsen the longer she stood. “But no matter what I do, everyone just treats me the same.”

The sixteen-year-old girl glared at Laxus with narrowed eyes. And despite her numerous injuries, he could see the ferocity in her eyes. “This is my time to prove you all wrong. To show everyone that I am no longer useless and incapable of defending myself.”

Spreading her feet apart and raising her hands up in front of her, a few more tears slid down her cheeks before she wiped them away furiously. “Fight me! I won’t give up until I can’t s-stand a-anymore!” she yelled, choking out the last words through her tears.

Laxus’ eyes narrowed when the girl reached up and stuck her hand underneath the scarf that was wrapped tightly around her neck. Suddenly, there was a red glow around her body as the air around her swirled upward, forming a large twister around the girl. The trees around them began to sway violently and he took a wary step back as he dropped his hands to his sides.

The once serious look that had been spread across his face had disappeared entirely, making way for one of disbelief. The magical pressure around the girl seemingly tripled, causing his frown to deepen. He didn’t know what was causing this, but he wasn’t sure if he was going to like finding out the answer.

His eyes widened in surprise as the snow began to rapidly melt around them, revealing the rocky terrain below. And before he could blink, the twister erupted into flames. The fire shot high into the sky, with embers flying throughout the air and falling to the ground below.

Switching his gaze away from the flaming twister, he was barely able to make out the girl’s body below. She still stood in the middle of the storm, her fists clenched and engulfed in flames as she stared at him. But what concerned him the most was the literal fire that was burning in her narrowed eyes.

Taking a few small steps back, Laxus summoned the lightning around himself once again. This time, he didn’t attempt to control the element and bolts of lightning shot down from the sky and began to strike the ground around him.

The two element users stared each other down across the clearing, with each refusing to give in to the other. Despite matching the girl in power, Laxus couldn’t stop the small puddle of doubt from beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. He still remembered the last time he had seen a fusion of dragon slaying elements, and the power had been overwhelming.

Bracing himself, he shoved aside his doubts and allowed for a small smirk to settle across his face. She had achieved what only one other mage before her had done. The perfect fusion of two elements within one being. The young Wendy Marvell had become the  _Fire-Sky Dragon._


	13. The Second Task, Part 3!

**Chapter 13: The Second Task, Part 3!**

Wendy wasn’t entirely sure what had made her activate the second element. She had only done it once before, and after nearly dying because of it she had sworn to never use it again until she learned how to control it properly.

But standing here, watching Laxus walk away from her after just handing her the amulet. It had made her angry… so, so angry. She didn’t even know why exactly. Because it seemed to her as if he was trying to discredit all the growing she had done over the years? Or because she felt that he was calling her weak? She didn’t know.

Before she had even realized what she was doing, she had reached up under her scarf and gripped onto the stone just as she had done only once before. And feeling the flames burst out around her with the wind quickly picking up in intensity, it had brought her senses back to her.

With the flames burning bright around her eyes she just watched Laxus’ face quickly turn into one of surprise before he activated his own magic. The aura radiating from his magic was strong, almost matching her own. Glancing down, she could see the small feathers sprouting around her wrists and ankles.

Raising a trembling hand, she grasped onto the end of her hair and pulled it in front of her. And like she expected, the tips of her hair had turned a light pink just as it had before. Letting it fall against her shoulder again, she raised her eyes to meet Laxus once again.

As she spread her feet apart and braced herself despite her body screaming at her to stop, she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering back to the only other time she had experienced this power. The source of many of her nightmares. The mission just after the Grand Magic Games almost two years ago…

\----

**1½ Years Prior, Wendy Age 14**

Wendy grumbled as she ran a hand down the side of her face, trying to ignore the members of Team Natsu behind her, who had been arguing with each other for the past ten minutes. Finding a mission should have been easy, and she would’ve been in and out in less than ten minutes… If it hadn’t been for the rest of her team noticing her arrival.

They had been upon her in moments, asking how she was, what she had been up too, and where she had been. Having ignored their pestering, she had made her way to the notice board only for the rest of the group to quickly follow, with Happy even landing on top of her head.

“Oh!” Lucy had practically squealed. “You want to go on a mission, Wendy? We should all go together!” On top of her head, Wendy heard Happy shout out an excited _Aye_ while Charla rubbed her head in annoyance by her feet. Behind her, the other members of the team let out varying words of agreement.

Reaching her hands up, Wendy carefully plucked Happy off the top of her head and placed him on the ground. He let out a small noise of disappointment but moved over to Charla nonetheless. Turning to the group behind her, Wendy tucked the piece of paper she had plucked off the board into her pants pocket.

“Sorry, but I want to go alone.” The blue-haired girl spoke, doing her best to ignore the fallen expression that appeared on Lucy’s face. “Oh,” Lucy replied, grasping her hands together behind her back. “Well, we could always go on the next one together then.”

Only nodding her head in response, Wendy walked around Lucy and the Exceeds to make her way towards the bar. “Wait a second, Wendy.” Turning her head back around, she saw both Gray and Erza standing there. The former had his hands buried in his white coat pockets, as the latter stood in her usual Heart Kreuz armor.

“Are you sure you want to go alone? It’s been a while since we’ve gone on a mission as a team.” As she spoke, Erza took a small step closer to the girl. Raising a gauntleted hand, she delicately placed it on the blue-haired girls shoulder. “It would be nice to go out as a team again, don’t you think?”

Wendy shrugged, knocking off the hand as a response. “I just want to go alone. Maybe when I get back.” At this, Lucy reappeared behind Erza, “You promise?” She muttered, and Wendy noticed the shine in her eyes from the obvious tears. Perhaps she had been a bit to forward with turning her down so fast.

“Sure.” Wendy replied, turning to continue her path towards the bar. It was an empty promise and they all knew it. There would never be a next time and things would continue just as it had been for the past year.

Reaching the bar, Wendy quickly pulled out the mission paper and handed it to Mira, who took it without question. The older mage read over it for a few moments before looking back at Wendy with an eyebrow raised. “Are you sure about this mission? It doesn’t seem like your style.”

Only giving a short nod in reply, Mira sighed softly before marking her down on the paper taped to the counter. “Alright, well, the mission is yours.” Holding out her hand, Mira offered the paper back to Wendy who swiftly took it back and folded it before stuffing it back in her pocket.

Muttering a quick thanks, Wendy turned to make her way out before she was stopped by Mira’s voice. “Just be careful Wendy,” the bartender called out, pausing as Wendy turned to look at her. Glancing down at the location she had written down on the paper, she continued, “I’ve been hearing about some suspicious activity in the area you are headed.”

Mira paused for a moment, watching Wendy’s look of indifference. “Perhaps it would be wise to take someone else with you… At least consider taking one other mage.”

Wendy stared into her blue eyes for a moment before shaking her head slightly. “I want to do it alone.” Her hand fidgeted by her waist as she pondered over her words. “I don’t normally take missions like this, but if I want to continue improving then I have too.”

The pair only stared at each other in silence before Mira replied with a short nod. “Alright then.” The bartender reached over to grab an empty mug and began wiping it down with the cloth that she had grabbed with the opposite hand. “I can’t stop you, but please be safe.”

Taking that as the sign to leave, Wendy once again turned and made her way through the guild. She could feel the watchful eyes of the rest of her team on her back the entire time, although she did her best to ignore it and keep moving. As she reached the doors, she noticed Charla making her way towards her out of the corner of her eye and quickly pushed open the doors. Stepping outside, she spared one last quick glance inside before shutting the doors quietly behind her.

**\----**

It didn’t take long for Wendy to complete the journey to Fairy Hills and gather her things together for the mission. And before she knew it, she had made it to the train station that was located on the edge of town.

While she had been at her room, she had switched out of her previous outfit in favor of something more comfortable for the long train ride. Now, she wore a light blue turtleneck sweater along with white leggings and sandals strapped around her feet. Her hair had been untied after leaving the guild and was now flowing loosely across her back. And to top it all off, Natsu’s white scarf was wrapped tightly around her neck.

So here she stood, clutching the straps of her black backpack tightly as she stared at the train in front of her. Blinking slowly, she couldn’t calm the trembling in her arms or shake off the feeling of numbness in her legs. One of the train assistants had been attempting to get her attention for the past few minutes, but his words just flew over the young girl’s head.

Having grown stronger over the past few years had changed the girl in many positive ways, but there always had to be negatives. And this was a clear negative. The sky dragon slayer had developed the dragon slayers trademark case of motion sickness.

Swallowing down a bit of bile that had risen in the back of her throat, Wendy was only able to let out a terrified yelp before the train assistant practically dragged her inside of the train and threw her into one of the rooms. Scrambling to cast Troia on herself, she had barely brought her hands up before the train started to move, sending her crashing down to the floor.

Gasping for breath, she moaned in discomfort as her nausea continued to rise. She didn’t dare attempting to move about and so she remained lying haphazardly across the floor. Shutting her eyes closed, she could only hope to get some sleep to get the train ride seem shorter.

In the end, she had managed to sleep for about seven of the nine hours it took to make it to her destination. She arrived at a medium sized town located on the southern edge of Fiore near the sea. It was mostly known as a trading port but was rather decent sized when compared to many of the other towns in the country.

Staggering off the train, Wendy scrambled to a bench outside of the train station and threw herself on top of it. Receiving a few confused looks from passersby she shut her eyes and ignored them in favor of relaxing her upset stomach.

It took just a few minutes, but eventually she had managed to settle the queasiness in her stomach and push herself up into a sitting position. Opening her eyes once again, she finally noticed the people in the station staring at her and felt a blush form on her face.

While she had grown more accustomed to people starting to recognize her over the years, she had never been and would probably never be one for the spotlight. As with her training with Laxus, she normally chose to remain silent and keep to herself when out in public. Despite the difficulty that was proving to be as her reputation continued to grow.

Turning her eyes towards the ground, Wendy kept her head down as she pushed her way through the crowd. Only glancing up to read the street signs, she made her way deeper into town in search of the mayor’s office. Entering the marketplace, she passed stall after stall. Children ran around with their parents as others went out to buy the items they wanted.

It didn’t take her much longer to arrive at her destination. The building was located right in the middle of town, surrounded by the marketplace with a small church sitting directly across the street from the office.

Pushing open the door to the building, she could immediately make out the lack of lavish furniture and items that seemed to frequent these buildings in other towns. Instead, the main hall was a small room, with a few pictures of the sea hanging from the walls. There were a few old wooden benches placed by the walls near the doors along with the receptionist’s u-shaped desk straight ahead from the doors.

Shutting the door lightly behind her, she ignored the quick glance from a young man sitting on one of the benches and strode over to the desk. Peeking over the edge, she was finally able to make out the form of the older lady sitting on the other side. She had faded gray hair, with wrinkles sprouting across her face, but had a large, beaming smile across her face.

“Hello dear.” The woman started, adjusting the glasses resting upon her nose with her right hand. “I don’t think I recognize you from around here. Are you new in town?”

Nodding her head, Wendy reached into her pants pocket and pulled out the folded paper. Unravelling it quickly, she slid it over the top of the desk for the woman to see. As the woman’s gaze fell upon the paper, a frown immediately replaced her smile. She quickly glanced between the paper and the fourteen-year-old a few times before leaning to the side and glancing behind Wendy.

“Ah…” The woman started, shifting back to sit properly in her chair. “You’re here for the mission we sent out.”

Only receiving a short nod once again, she sighed lightly and took the paper from Wendy. “Before I continue any further, would you please tell me your name?”

Staring blankly at the older woman for a few moments, Wendy peeked at the form of the man sitting on the bench out of the corner of her eye. He was currently looking away, with the only thing noticeable about him being his long raven hair. And after seeing no motion from him for a few moments Wendy turned back to the receptionist.

“Wendy Marvell.” she muttered, watching as the woman’s face lit up in recognition.

“Ahhh! I see now. You’re the Sky Sorceress!”

Offering another short nod, Wendy only watched as the woman swiveled around in her chair to grab a piece of paper from the edge of the desk. Grasping it tightly, she tucked the mission paper underneath and handed the pair back to Wendy.

The woman let out a small chuckle as she watched Wendy read over the paper. “I’m sorry for not recognizing you sooner. I rarely seem to get out from this desk these days.” She shot a small glare towards one of the closed doors to Wendy’s left. “He rarely seems to do anything except party and gamble anymore.”

Wendy assumed that this _he_ was most likely the mayor. Normally when arriving to accept a mission, they would be sent to the mayor or issuer directly. And since it seemed that the receptionist was the one handling everything around here, he must not have been the greatest mayor.

Continuing to read, her eyes narrowed when she reached the bottom of the new paper that she had been handed. “I don’t need any help.” she muttered, shifting her eyes back to the woman who only let out another feeble chuckle in response.

“I’m sorry,” she stated, gesturing over at the same door with her finger, “It is the mayor’s order. Anyone under the age of sixteen should be accompanied by at least one other person due to the nature of the mission.”

Clenching the paper tighter in slight annoyance, she was about to refuse the woman once again before she felt a tug on the bottom of her pant leg. Glancing down, her words got caught in the back of her throat as she stared down in confusion. Grasping onto the fabric of her leggings was… A pink frog?

She had no clue where the creature had come from, but his or her green face stared up at the girl with a bright smile. And without letting go of Wendy, it raised the other hand and pointed towards the man sitting on the bench. “Rogue couldn’t go too!”

At the mention of his name, the man turned away from the window. His long hair covered the right side of his face, leaving only the left side visible. From what Wendy could make out, he had dark-red eyes like Gajeel. He had a black cloak wrapped around his shoulders that covered the top portion of his gray shirt. Over his dark pants, there were four pieces of cloth attached to a waistband that reached down to his knees. And to finish it off, he wore a pair of armored boots that covered his shins.

Rogue stared blankly at Wendy for a few moments before turning back to the frog. “Frosch, get back over here.”

Never dropping the smile, Frosch walked back over to Rogue and hopped onto the man’s lap to snuggle against him. This was when Wendy noticed the frog’s long tail and came to the realization that is wasn’t a frog after all.

“You have an Exceed?” she asked, keeping her eyes on the small cat. There was a small pang in her heart as she thought about her Charla back home. Perhaps she should have brought her on the mission after all…

Shaking her head to push those thoughts away, a bit of nervousness arose within her as Rogue’s eyes shifted back to her. As he only continued to stare at her without replying, she was about to turn back to the woman at the desk when he spoke.

“If you’re talking about Frosch, then I suppose so.” There didn’t seem to be much emotion in his voice, as he spoke so quietly she was just barely able to make out what he was saying. “Although this is the first time I have heard anyone call them an… eckeed?”

“Exceed.” Wendy quickly corrected, watching Rogue repeat the word once to himself. Watching Frosch cuddle against the man she continued, “My partner is an Exceed as well. Although she is back home.”

Rogue didn’t do much more than glance at her before looking back down at his cat and start petting him. As his gaze drifted towards the window again, Wendy took that as a sign of the conversation being over and turned back towards the older woman once more.

The receptionist was glancing between the two other human occupants of the room before smacking herself on the head lightly with one hand. “Silly me!”

Dropping her hand back onto the desk, she looked back at Wendy with the bright smile returning to her face. “I can’t believe I missed this! That young man over there arrived here a few hours earlier looking to accept the mission as well, but of course I had to turn him away due to his lack of a human partner. But now that you have arrived this is perfect!”

Holding up a hand, she called out to Rogue. “Young man, please come over here for a second!”

Looking back over with what seemingly was his usual blank stare, he carefully lifted Frosch up from his lap and placed the cat on his shoulder. A few moments later he was standing beside Wendy, who was now having to look up at him as he was a few inches taller than her.

Clasping her hands together in front of her, she watched the pair as they stood next to each other. “I can allow you two to go on the mission, but you’d have to agree to go together. Of course, that would also mean the reward would be split fifty-fifty when it’s completed.”

The expression on Rogue’s face didn’t shift in the slightest, but he turned towards Wendy when he felt her gaze upon his face. He knew what she was thinking without either of them having to say a word. “If she doesn’t care, then I don’t either.”

Grumbling quietly to herself, Wendy offered a slight nod and watched as the woman clapped once. “Great!” she cheered, opening one of the desk drawers and pulling out a folded piece of paper. “This here is a map of the surrounding forests and plains. As the mission request stated, we have been noticing some suspicious activity in the areas outside of town and we would just like you guys to investigate them.”

Rogue reached out a hand and grabbed the map before stuffing it into one of his pockets. Without offering even as much as a nod, he turned around and began to walk towards the front door. And despite being a girl of few words herself, Wendy thanked the woman before moving to follow the dreary boy.

Catching up to Rogue outside, she grabbed onto his sleeve to get him to stop. As he turned to look back at her, she held up her right hand while placing her left on her hip. “Give me the map.”

The two stood there for half a minute, as Rogue did nothing except stare at her while she glared up at him with her expectant gaze. Eventually, Rogue reached down into his pocket and slowly withdrew the map. Raising it up, he made no motion to hand it to her, but instead held it close to his body.

“Shouldn’t you at least introduce yourself first before trying to demand things?”

Blinking slowly, her hand fell to her side for a moment before she regained her bearings. Her annoyance quickly rising, she raised a finger and jabbed him in the chest as she spoke through gritted teeth, “I’m Wendy. I am the Sky Dragon Slayer. I have an Exceed friend named Charla. Now, give me the map.”

That got a reaction out of the boy. For the first time, Wendy saw something other than the blank stare on his face. As she had continued to speak, his face had slowly shifted into one of surprise and had even garnered a reaction out of his Exceed companion as well.

“You’re a dragon slayer too?” The boy questioned, turning to his Exceed companion that was still sitting on his shoulder as he spoke up. “Fro thinks so too.”

Wendy’s eyes widened as she took a small step back. Looking between the cat and the fourteen-year-old boy, she held up a shaky finger and pointed at him. “Y-You’re a dragon slayer?”

Receiving a short nod at her question, Wendy stared at him for a few moments before moving closer to him again. “What… What type of dragon slayer are you?” she questioned.

The raven-haired boy glanced at Frosch momentarily before turning back to the girl. “Shadow,” he muttered and watched as Wendy raised a hand to her chin and started rubbing it. “Makes sense,” she nodded soon after as she muttered to herself, causing Rogue’s visible eye to twitch. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Raising her hands, she waved them around to placate him. “Nothing, nothing!” Lowering her left hand back to her hip, she held her right palm out towards him, “I just meant that being a shadow dragon slayer seemed to fit your personality.”

“Fro thinks so too!” The small exceed called out, causing both slayers to look over at him. Wendy breathed out a small laugh at his antics, while Rogue placed a hand against his forehead at his partner’s antics.

“Whatever,” Rogue sighed out as he unfolded the map in his hand, “Let’s just move on.”

Turning away to begin walking again, he was stopped when his blue-haired companion called out to him once more. “What?” he groaned, only turning his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Well,” she started with her voice lowering, “You never told me your name.”

Staring at her again with a blank look on his face, he only sighed once more as he started to walk once again. “Rogue.”

Nodding her head in acceptance, she fell in step behind him as he turned and began walking again. Frosch was happily pointing out different objects from his shoulder, seemingly oblivious to the weird looks he was receiving from the townsfolk as they walked.

Having time to think to herself, Wendy pondered over her conversation with the gloomy boy in front of her. _Although_ , she thought to herself, _I have been acting just as dark within the guild too._

Shaking her head slightly, she grasped onto the edge of the white, scaly scarf wrapped around her neck. All she wanted was to show them that she was able to take care of herself, but no matter what she did, they never gave her the chance. She had tried to convince them before the Games, but they had refused to let her participate. The hardest blow had been being denied by even Laxus himself, as she thought he would be the one to let her participate.

That’s why she took this quest. If she wanted to show them that she was just as capable, then she was going to have to keep taking harder quests alone until they would finally accept her. And it wasn’t as if she hated being around her friends, it was quite the contrary. But she just felt that she had to do it alone, and that they wouldn’t understand if she tried to explain it to them.

It’s the only way. She reasoned with herself, having gone over these thoughts many times before. I _must_ keep my promise and I must be able to protect the guild from anything that may try to hurt it to do so.


	14. The Mission! Flashback, Part 2!

**Chapter 14: The Mission**

Taking a few steps tentative steps into the entrance, Wendy gently placed her hand on the wall to the left. A couple feet ahead, the light faded until she couldn’t see anything except the darkness of the cave. Glancing over at her partner, Rogue didn’t seem fazed by this as he continued forward.

As he stepped into the darkness with Frosch following close behind, she quickly lost sight of the shadow mage. She supposed that she should probably feel lucky that she was forced to go with a mage that controlled shadows.

Wendy removed her hand from the wall and wiped it on her pantleg to brush off the grime. Not wanting to fall behind, she stepped into the darkness. She could sense Rogue moving in front of her, but besides the light shuffle of his feet and Frosch’s light pitter patter, she wasn’t able to tell if there was anything else ahead.

Proceeding slowly, she held her hands out in front of her to ensure that she wouldn’t run into anything. Eventually, her partner’s footsteps came to stop, and she felt her hands collide with Rogue’s back. Relieved at their presence, Wendy let out a breath she had unknowingly been holding. 

“Wait here.”

At the sound of Rogue’s deep voice, she felt herself go stiff. But before she was able to respond, he disappeared into the shadows. By her feet, Frosch grabbed onto her ankle with both hands. She could feel his small paws trembling lightly and she bent over to rub his head. Just as she had earlier in the day, she felt a small pang of regret for how she had been treating Charla and Happy lately, but she forced the feeling away.

It wasn’t long before the pair sensed Rogue return. The shadow mage was quick to pick up Frosch and grab onto her hand. Staying close together, he led them farther down the tunnel, and Wendy was just barely able to make out a faint light in the distance.

“There is a group of three mages ahead,” Rogue whispered, causing Wendy’s eyes to flick towards where she assumed he was. “I can deal with the farthest two if you can handle the first.”

Nodding her head in agreement, they pushed forward once more. The faint light was slowly getting brighter. Within the narrow tunnel ahead, she was vaguely beginning to be able to make out the forms of the people. With the only source of light coming from the dimly lit torches that were burning in two of their hands, there was no way to make out any distinguishable features due to the darkness surrounding them.

“Gah-ha!” One of three figures suddenly shouted, causing the dragon slayers to pause. “Sounds like the boss is making quick work of those villagers!” he finished, letting out another laugh.

The second figure seemed to turn to turn back at the man behind him. “I don’t get how you find that so humorous. I don’t mind stealing their stuff, but when it comes to this… this stuff… I just don’t get how you get any joy out of it.”

The first man was seemingly getting riled up as the third place a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down, would you? We don’t need the boss thinking were slacking.”

With that statement, the three fell silent. Messing with something in their hands, their attention was drawn away from the dark tunnel surrounding them. Wendy felt Rogue place his hand on her shoulder, so she grabbed it with her own. The boy leaned in close before whispering in her ear.

“Wait for me to begin.” he paused and removed his hand from her shoulder. “Once you hear the fight start, join in.”

She only nodded in agreement and sensed the mage move away from her. Frosch was moving around by her feet and she assumed that he was looking for a place to wait for Rogue to finish. It wasn’t much longer until she heard the first sounds of a fight ahead.

“W-What the hell?!” The second figure exclaimed, reaching for something by his waist. His shouting garnered the attention of his other two partners, but by then it was already too late. In one swift motion, Rogue wrapped a shadow around the man’s waist and slammed him against the wall, knocking him out cold. As he was moving onto the next, Wendy finally arrived and slammed a wind-covered fist into the third man’s head.

Turning back towards the final man, she watched his battered form crumple to the ground. The shadows swirled above his body before fading away to reveal Rogue standing above him.

“Good work.”

Looking back in the direction they came from, Frosch eventually walked out of the shadows and into the dim light. He picked up one of the torches that one of the men had dropped before handing it to Wendy. “Here you go!” he exclaimed with a smile.

Grabbing the flaming object from his paws, she offered him some thanks. With the cavern being a bit lighter now that she was standing beside the torch, she turned back to Rogue. He was currently bent over one of the figure’s unconscious forms. Reaching down, he grabbed an object from their hand and held it out in front of him. A small, transparent screen popped up in front of the pair.

“A projection lacrima.” Wendy spoke, receiving a nod in response from the boy.

The screen was flickering between black and white, so Rogue tapped the side of the lacrima a few times before an image popped up. And what they saw immediately made them sick.

Row after row of people were sprawled out on the ground. Iron shackles were closed tight around their hands and feet, keeping them against a wall. There were countless injuries on many of them, with the worst being indescribable.

Ripping her eyes away from the projection, Wendy met Rogue’s eyes. The boy had a stoic expression on his face, but his eyes told a different story.

“They must be the missing villagers.” he spoke, bending over to pick up Frosch, making sure that the small Exceed couldn’t see the projection once he was secure in his arms. “We need to be careful.”

Wendy could only nod her head in agreement. She could still feel her stomach churning from the sight of those people. They were being treated like animals. Nobody should have to go through that, and she would do her best to save them.

Raising the torch higher, she spoke, “Let’s keep going.”

Rogue dissipated into the shadows and moved in front to keep an eye out. He would be their eyes in the darkness. Wendy kept her left hand against the wall the entire time, wanting to make sure she didn’t stray too far or get lost. As they steadily moved deeper into the tunnel, she grew more confused as she felt the temperature around them steadily grow hotter.

Eventually, it grew so hot that Wendy was unable to keep going. Wendy was practically gasping for breath in the thick air. As she leaned against the wall and slid to the ground, she pulled out a small canteen and took a few, long gulps.

“They must have a fire mage.” Wendy wheezed, taking another sip.

Rogue appeared in front of her, the shadows continuing to swirl around his lower half. “Are you alright?”

The bluenette nodded her head a few times and waved him off with her hand. “F-Fine. I’ll b-be fine.”

Shaking his head, he placed a hand on her forehead before she quickly swatted it away. “You don’t seem to be fine. The temperature has increased, but you shouldn’t be this hot.”

Gasping for another breath, she could only nod her head weakly to acknowledge his words. He was silent for a few moments as he glanced down the tunnel ahead before turning back. Letting out a small sigh, he switched Frosch to his right arm before bending down and picking up Wendy with the left.

Wendy let out a small grunt as Rogue snaked his arm under her shoulders to lift her up. She tried to help him as much as she could, but the heat was overbearing. It was strong. Radiating around her, she could almost sense the air pulsing around her as it got hotter. As Rogue attempted to lift her up, he accidently loosened the scarf around her neck. This caused the small stone that had been buried within to fall onto her upper chest.

When the small stone connected with her skin, Wendy felt pain unlike any she felt before. Letting out a blood-curdling scream, she immediately jumped out of the boy’s arm and collapsed onto her knees. Reaching up, she swiftly grabbed the string around her neck and ripped it off, throwing the stone to the ground.

Gasping for breath, she tentatively touched the seared skin by her neck. She winced as she tentatively felt the dead skin, and she could feel the tears begin to build up in her eyes. Her hands were trembling from the continuous, throbbing pain, but she managed to slowly bring up her canteen of water. She let out a hiss as she carefully poured a bit of water on the wound. It didn’t do much to help, but the pain lessened just the slightest bit.

Rogue had not looked at the girl since she had thrown the stone to the ground. Instead, his gaze was firmly locked on the pulsing red stone that sat in front of them.

“W-Wendy,” he stuttered, which was uncharacteristic of the normally stoic teen.

Attempting to blink away some of the tears in her eyes and failing, Wendy turned to look at the raven-haired teen beside her. Following his gaze, she found herself staring at the stone as well, although it was for a completely different reason than the boy beside her. It had never burned her like this before, what was causing it to react this way?

Rogue took a step forward and grabbed the onto the string that held the stone. He brought it up and held it close to his face, examining it.

“You have a dragon slayer lacrima, too?” he questioned, twirling the stone around by the string.

His words made Wendy pause. “Too?” she muttered, still watching the stone. “You have one as well?”

His nod confirmed her question. Rogue twirled the stone around a few times before turning away and looking towards Wendy.

“Yes, but mine is implanted inside of me.”

Just like Laxus. Wendy stood up and gently reached over to take the small stone back. The boy let it go without any resistance, and she carefully wrapped it up within the scarf.

“You’re a second-generation dragon slayer then?” she questioned.

Rogue shook his head, “Third.”

“Third-generation?” Wendy had never heard of a third generation before. The first had been trained by the dragons themselves. The second had a lacrima implanted into their bodies. But a third?

“Third-generation dragon slayers have a lacrima implanted into their bodies but are also trained by a dragon.” Rogue explained.

“Dragon?!” she blurted out, causing Rogue to turn back and shush her. That part of his explanation stood out to Wendy more than the rest. Speaking quieter, she continued, “Do you know where your dragon is?”

He shook his head once more, causing Wendy’s shoulders to fall. “It wouldn’t matter much if I remembered. He’s dead.”

 _Dead._ The one word rang in her mind. For the first time since meeting the gloomy teen, Wendy felt a pang of uneasiness radiate throughout her body. Taking a small step back, Rogue only watched her with his neutral expression.

“How did he die?” Wendy’s asked quietly, her voice wavering.

Rogue was quiet for a moment. He was watching her, as if contemplating her reaction to his words. For someone who was the same age as her, he didn’t act like anyone else she knew around her age.

“I had to do it,” he started. Before Wendy could react, he suddenly dropped Frosch and lunged towards her with widened eyes. “Watch out!”

She was just able to watch Rogue dissolve into the shadows as everything went black.

**LINE BREAK**

Wendy awoke to the sound of footsteps. Blinking her eyes wearily, she turned her head to the side to find the source. She felt groggy, almost seeming as if she was moving in slow motion. There was a throbbing pain in the back her head, and she could barely sense the blood dribbling down the side of her head.

The person came to a stop beside Wendy. Her vision was blurry, and she could barely make out the shoelaces on their boots. When she tried to move her hand to grab onto their leg, she found that she couldn’t. And by the rattle that sent a shockwave of pain through her head, her hands were probably locked in chains.

The figure leaned over her fallen form, and as she turned her gaze up, all she could make out were blotches of purple. She tried to speak, but all that came out were a few garbled noises. The figure above let out a few distorted chuckles and Wendy felt a hand grab onto her head.

Immediately, her head was clear. The throbbing ceased as the blurriness faded away, and she was finally able to make out the figures before her. Looking down towards her hands, she could finally make out the bronze chains that held her in place. It also seemed that they had magic imbued within, as there was a faint glow around the clasps.

Turning away from the chains, she barely managed to turn her head before the closest figure raised their boot and slammed it down on the side of her head. She let out a yelp of pain as her skull connected with the ground, resulting in a few of the other people in the room letting out a few chuckles.

“What’s your name?” The first questioned, digging the sole of their boot further into Wendy’s head. Despite the steadily increasing pain and the ringing in her ears, Wendy was barely able to make out that it was a man’s voice.

Wendy refused to answer at first, but when their boot pressed down harder, she gave in. “W-Wendy.”

“Wendy…” They drawled, slowly removing the pressure from the girl’s head. Before Wendy could regain her bearings, the figure grabbed onto her right shoulder and pulled her up.

With the hand that was latched onto her shoulder, they pointed at the guild mark stamped onto her skin. “Fairy Tail.”

Her body was spun around so that the guild mark was facing the rest of the crowd. “Look at what we have here gentlemen! A Fairy Tail mage seems to have wandered into our guildhall.”

At the sound of laughter, the man removed his hand and straightened his body. “Well then, now that you’re feeling better, I have a few questions for you.”

Slumping against the cold, earthen ground, Wendy tilted her head to look up at her captor. The man had placed his hand under his chin and was tapping his finger against his lips as if he was contemplating something. When he met Wendy’s eyes, he smiled.

“Join us,” he began, raising his arms to both sides. “Join us and you can help us take down this kingdom!”

Wendy frowned, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “That’s your plan?” she let out a sigh, “Do you know how many dark guilds are out there with the same goal?”

The man’s smile faded as he dropped his arms. A few of the members behind him let out some nervous chuckles and took a few steps backward.

“True.” He began, bending down so that his face was closer to hers. With a sudden jolt, he grabbed Wendy under the chin and pulled her closer, ignoring the wince of pain. “But they don’t have what we do.”

 Wendy stared at the man with a deadpan expression. “You’re probably like the fiftieth person to say that.”

The man’s eye twitched in annoyance, and he threw Wendy’s head away, which gracefully fell to the floor with a thud. Letting out a low moan, Wendy just left her head against the floor to try and sooth the pain. Curse her big mouth.

“Since you are unwilling to cooperate, perhaps it’s time for you to meet my friend.”

Looking back at the crowd, many of them smiled while the rest looked around, but they seemed tense. Almost as if they were nervous of something. But before Wendy could contemplate it further, a door appeared out of thin air and a figure shrouded and shadows stepped out.

As the figure began to move closer, Wendy began to struggle and pull on the chains that held her against the wall. She felt the fear bubbling in the pit of her stomach when the rest of figures began to move closer. As they slowly got closer, she could begin make out the weapons twirling in their hands and sense their magic fluctuating from across the room.

“He warned you.” A voice spoke, clearly feminine and though she couldn’t pinpoint where it had come from, she knew it was coming from the figure before her. “You should have accepted the offer when you had the chance. Now I have no choice.”

A sudden jerk of the chains soon had her sprawled out across the floor.  Looking back down at the chains, she could see a few of the figures holding on to the end. She tried to bring her hands up into her chest, but the figure holding onto the chains didn’t give. Letting out a scream of frustration, her dread only grew more when she felt some one grab onto her legs.

Hoisted up into the air, she thrashed around to get them to let go. But despite her best efforts, their grip on her limbs never slacked. Next thing she knew, she was thrown on top of a wooden table, with her arms and legs immediately being shackled to the legs.

“There is a lesson you need to learn.” The voice was closer this time, it was coming from her right. As she turned her head to make out the speaker, she was met with the figure of a tall woman. She was wearing a mask shaped like a skull over her face, with the only things visible being her purple, almost black eyes and the few strands of dark purple hair that stuck out from the mask.

The rest of her body was covered in some sort of armor, with what looked to have bones bolted down in random places across it. Wendy couldn’t identify what kind of bones they were, and she really didn’t want to try and think about where the lady had gotten them from. The woman reached out a gauntlet-covered hand and placed it on top of Wendy’s exposed head.

Wendy blinked and when her eyes opened, all the figures were gone. In their place stood the guild, her family. Erza stood where the woman had been, her hand still on her head. Gray and Lucy held onto her feet at the end of the table, and at the top Mira and Gajeel held down her hands.

Turning away, she saw the purple-haired woman now standing to her left, a spear in hand. “You are weak. Just a little girl getting in way over her head. Just give in and make it easier for all of us. Why burden anyone else with needing to protect you?”

She suddenly felt the shackles around her arms and legs get tighter, and she was soon wincing in pain. Tears filled her brown eyes and threatened to spill out, but she blinked quickly trying to disperse them.

The woman began walking to the other side of the room, where another figure was chained to the wall. Raising the tip of the spear, she placed it against the middle of the figures back to push him closer to Wendy. And when he shuffled into the light, Wendy cried out.

He stood hunched over, the right side of his face burned and scarred beyond recognition. His hands trembled, rattling the chains that kept him in place. He only had a few ripped pieces of cloth to cover himself, and she was instantly reminded of the scarf that was wrapped tightly around her neck.

“How could you stand up to me if he couldn’t?”

Wendy screamed as she struggled against the chains that held her down, just wishing that they would break. But that would never happen, and she was forced to watch the woman raise the spear that was grasped tightly in her hand. Screaming at the woman to stop again, she was powerless as the woman’s eyes glowed with power.

“Useless.” she spoke, bringing the spear down.

Wendy turned away and shut her eyes just before the spear connected. She refused to turn back, even when silence rang from the woman’s direction. The only thing she could hear were her ragged attempts at breathing. The image of the disfigured man was seared into her mind, and nothing would get rid of it.

Thinking about the figure, she couldn’t stop her hands from beginning to tremble. The chains shook below, and the guild members holding her down tightened their grip on the metal, but she paid it no heed.

She knew who it was. His face was something she would never forget. But even though she knew that, she refused to accept it. That he would look so weak, so foreign from everything she remembered. It was something she _couldn’t_ accept.

Her breathing still ragged, Wendy slowly turned back. When she opened her eyes, she started when she saw the woman standing directly in front of her. Her purple eyes bearing down on the chained girl.

“So, what do you say?” she whispered, leaning in so her lips were only inches from Wendy’s ear, “To the people you look up to the most?”

Raising an arm, she pointed towards the collapsed figure. “To those you can’t protect?”

Wendy followed her finger, and tears filled her eyes as she remained silent, just watching the figure. She was weak. She couldn’t even stop herself from watching him. From doing exactly what this woman wanted her to do.

“Nothing? That’s too bad.”

Wendy had no time to react as the woman swiftly raised her spear and impaled Erza. Blood sprayed from the newly created hole in her chest, and for the first time, Erza’s expression changed from the neutral one that she had been adorning. The scarlet mage could only let out a silent scream as she clutched at her chest and stared at Wendy with a look that the smaller girl would never forget.

By the time her body connected with the ground, Wendy was already screaming. The tears were flowing down her cheeks, and she closed her eyes tight.

“You should’ve joined us. Having a dragon slayer at our side would’ve made us unstoppable.”

Wendy’s cries filled the air. She refused to open her eyes. She didn’t want to see it again. The only other sound in the room were the light footsteps coming from the woman as she slowly walked around the table. Wendy didn’t know where she had gone, but she didn’t care to look.

“You-“

The woman started to speak again but her words were cut off. There was a sudden explosion, and as the sudden heat washed over Wendy, she cracked open her eyes.

She was immediately able to make out the form of Rogue next to the fallen form of the woman. His clothing was battered, and shredded, along with missing one of his shin guards. Both arms were laced with cuts and bruises, and blood trickled down both.

The woman was now laying a few feet away from the table, pushing herself up from the ground and dusting herself off.

“Well. I was not expecting that.” she spoke.

Rogue ignored her, and instead lunged for the table that Wendy was laying on. None of the other Fairy Tail mages moved, but only continue to look on with the blank look on their faces. Rogue shoved Mira aside, causing her to collapse to the floor as he grabbed onto the closest chain.

With a quick tug, the chain was releases from the table leg that it had been shackled too. And with one arm now free, Wendy reached over to unclasp her remaining arm as Rogue went to work freeing her legs. Just as Mira had done, the rest of the Fairy Tail mages all fell to the floor at the slightest touch.

Now free from the restraints, Wendy pushed herself off the table and stood next to Rogue. He was holding his left arm in his right, and when Wendy went to heal him, he pushed her away.

“Don’t.” he muttered, “Save your magic.”

Meanwhile, their opponent just stood on the opposite side of the room, spear still in hand. She held out her hand and motioned in Rogue’s direction.

“You’re stronger than I anticipated. More so than the girl there.”

Wendy couldn’t help but glance at Rogue, who was glaring at the woman. She could only make out the one eye that wasn’t covered by hair, but the red iris stood out like a beacon in the darkness of the cavern.

With a burst of shadows, he fell into the floor. The woman seemed to pay it little mind, as she turned towards Wendy with a cocky grin across her face.

“Looks like it’s just us for the time being.”

As the woman took a few steps toward her, Wendy raised her hands. It was obvious that she had magic, but what it was, Wendy had no clue. The spear being twirled in her hand looked more menacing now that she could see it clearly. The blade was barbed on the end, and it was covered in intricate designs.

“Come on then.” The woman spoke.

With a burst of wind, Wendy shot towards the woman. Leading with a punch, the woman deftly dodged her strike before bringing her spear up and swinging it towards her head. Barely managing to react in time, Wendy tilted her head back and dodged the weapon.

Swinging her leg up, Wendy launched her next attack.

“Sky Dragon’s Talon!” she shouted.

The burst of wind that followed shook the entire cave. Chunks of rock and debris fell from the ceiling above, and the woman was pushed away as she roughly rolled to a stop. Landing on the ground and regaining her balance, Wendy’s eyes never left her opponent. The woman was grasping her chest with her free hand, the spear still tightly grasped in the other.

Not wanting to waste any time, Wendy rushed forward again. Being underground, her magic was severely limited. She could feel the decrease in speed and power of her attacks. But worse than that, her supply of fresh air was severely limited. She had to be careful not to drain her magic too fast.

Deciding to forgo any spells, Wendy swung forward with her fist. The woman raised her arm to block, but Wendy spun around and slammed the back of her fist into the side of her head, making the woman stumble back. She followed with a swift kick to the stomach, drawing a heaving gasp from her opponent.

Letting out a frustrated scream, the woman swung her spear in an arc, aiming for Wendy’s chest. Quickly leaning back, Wendy barely managed to dodge the sharp spearhead. She let out a hiss as the tip grazed her skin, cutting straight through her clothes and piercing her skin.

Trying to ignore the sensation of the blood trickling down her torso, Wendy jumped back. With some space between them, she could tell that the cut wasn’t deep, but it still stung. Turning back to her opponent, she noticed that the woman had placed a hand on her hip and was staring at the slightly bloodied spearhead grasped tightly in the other.

“Well, I guess the rumors weren’t completely true,” the woman started, flicking her eyes towards Wendy, “It seems that you dragon slayers aren’t as tough as you make it out to seem.”

Flicking the spear at the ground, the woman began to stalk towards Wendy. Raising her hands, Wendy only had moments to ready herself before the woman was on her. Sidestepping a swift slash of the spear, she barely managed to raise an arm to block the following punch the woman sent her way. Planting her feet on the ground, she pushed back and lunged forward with a punch of her own.

The crack of the spear slamming down on her extended arm made Wendy wince, but that was only moments before the pain kicked in. Staggering back, Wendy couldn’t hold back her cry as she delicately gripped her now-bruised arm. She wasn’t entirely sure, but from the sharp, throbbing pain, she was willing to bet that the bone was fractured.

When her foot bumped into something below, she turned her tear-filled eyes away from her arm. Through the blurriness, she could barely make out Lucy’s features. The girl’s eyes were closed, and she could only barely make out the rising and falling of her chest. Wendy had no doubt that she was here because of the woman’s magic.

Wendy’s eyes widened at the sound of footsteps. Swinging her head away from the body below, there was no time to react as the woman swung the spear around and slammed it across Wendy’s chest. She emit a garbled choke from deep within as she stumbled backwards, her arms reaching up towards her chest.

Not wasting any time, the woman started forward. With Wendy unable to respond, she took her sweet time closing the gap between them. The woman was reveling in the shuddering breaths Wendy was attempting to take. Stepping behind the smaller girl, she twirled the spear around before slamming it against the back of her knees.

Wendy gasped in pain, falling to her knees before the taller woman. Looking around the cavern before her, the bodies of her comrades still lay around her, some moving, while others staying eerily still.

As the woman placed her hand in the middle of her back and pushed, she fell forward onto her forearms. Both arms were shaking, strained with the effort of trying to hold her injured body off the floor. Despite the pain wracking her body, she still didn’t fully understand what had happened. One minute it had looked as if they were evenly matched, but the next…

“They will always be your greatest weakness.” Wendy slowly turned her head to look at the dark-haired mage standing behind her, shooting a glare in her direction with the corner of her eye. The woman frowned as she continued to twirl the spear in her right hand. “It’s a shame to see so much potential goes to waste. If only you’d learn.”

Moving faster than Wendy was able to see, the woman hit her side with a powerful kick, sending the smaller girl rolling a few feet away. Spitting out a glob of blood, Wendy slowly turned and faced the woman once again, the feeling of fear growing within.

The woman raised her hands, motioning to the fallen bodies all around them. “They make you weak! Why can’t you see that?” Raising her foot, she slammed one of their faces into the dirt.

“I learned a long time ago. Way before you were even born. And now look at me. I have power many can only dream of!”

Letting out a deep laugh, the woman switched her gaze back to the young mage. “Just give up. We tried to show you the way, and yet you refused to listen. Now you will die.”

The woman took her time walking over to Wendy, basking in the fear radiating from her smaller form. Wendy shakily raised an arm and wiped away some of the blood that was coating her mouth, but it was quickly replaced by fresh blood only moments later.

Wendy winced as she tried to push herself up. As she delicately placed her hand onto her side, she hissed when her hand met the tender skin. Tilting her head back to watch the woman, there was nothing she could do when the woman raised her spear once more. Her body refused to do move no matter how hard she tried.

Letting out a loud, booming laugh, the woman’s purple eyes flashed. Just as the spear was about to begin its descent, there was a sudden flash behind the woman. Although she tried to turn and defend herself, she was just too slow.

Rogue jumped onto the woman’s back, one arm grasping onto the end of the spear as the other looped around her neck. Acting quickly, the woman decided to let the spear go and grasp onto the one arm that was cutting off her air supply with one hand. Rogue barely had time to fling the weapon across the room before the woman let out a scream and flung the boy to the ground by his arm.

There was a sickening crunch as he met the ground, but if anything had been broken, Rogue did an amazing job at hiding it. Pushing himself onto his knees, he glanced at Wendy with his dark eyes.

“You have to get up!” he screamed, pushing himself up to his feet. “The only way we win is if we fight together!”

As he finished, he lunged back towards the woman, his body coated in shadows. Wendy knew that his words rang true. One on one, they were outmatched. Their opponent most likely had years, if not decades more experience then they did. But working together, they might stand a chance.

With a light grunt, she placed her palms on the ground and attempted to force herself up. Rogue was doing his best to keep the woman occupied, but it was clear that he was losing ground fast. Just as Wendy made if fully up to her feet, Rogue was hit by one of her punches. As he slid away, Wendy launched herself forward, doing her best to ignore the burning pain throughout her body.

“Sky Dragon’s Crushing Fang!” she yelled as she swung her hand down, causing a burst of wind to fly at the woman.

Crossing her arms in front of her, the woman blocked the attack with little difficulty. As the wind began to push her back, Wendy came around from her right with her leg outstretched.

“Sky Dragon’s Claw!”

This time, the impact from the wind was too strong for the woman to handle. She was swept off her feet and was flung across the room into the opposite wall. As chunks of stone and dirt went flying from the impact, the woman slowly slid down the wall.  

Wendy quickly used the time to seek out Rogue, and she eventually found him half-submerged in a patch of shadows on the floor. When he noticed her moving close, he stepped out, letting the last strands slip away from his mouth and back to the floor.

“Good work,” he stated, flexing his hands.

Wendy shook her head, “It’s not over.”

The pair quickly turned towards the opposite end of the cave as a booming laugh echoed. The woman was standing away from the wall that she had crashed into, where Wendy could make out the faint imprint that her body had left behind. With a wave of her hand, Wendy looked on as the bodies littering the floor disappeared in a golden mist.

Rogue took a step forward, standing slightly ahead of Wendy. He had summoned the shadows once again, surrounding his limbs in a dark stream. Wendy made to follow him, but a sudden spike of pain from around her neck made her gasp out and collapse to a knee.

Reaching her hands up, they once again met the fire lacrima. It was searing once again, and even though she was holding it by the string tied tightly around it, the heat pulsing against her skin was almost too much to bear. At her gasp, Rogue had turned to look back at her.

It wasn’t for long, and at his distraction, the woman rushed forward, picking up her spear as she ran, and caught him by surprise. He quickly attempted to dissipate into the shadows, but he was caught by the end of her weapon before he could vanish.

Wendy could sense the air getting hotter around her. The dirty rocks below began to smoke, and she could feel the sweat trickling down her forehead. The woman had turned to her soon after Rogue had gone, and Wendy could practically feel the uneasiness radiating from the woman.

Despite her attempts to reign the stone’s power in, Wendy could do nothing as the stone grew hotter. Flames soon burst within her palms, causing her to let out a startled scream. She stood up despite her bodies continuous protests, desperately trying to extinguish the flames burning on her skin.

The woman hesitated, clearly unsure of what to do. This wasn’t something that she had planned for. It was supposed to be a sky mage and a shadow mage, nothing more. Especially not one who could wield fire.

The flames continued to spread across her body, covering her arms, shoulders, neck. Before she knew it, the fire had enveloped her entire body, and smoke and embers were flowing up to the ceiling above. And with one last desperate look towards the woman, Wendy’s world went black.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> This was the conclusion of the mission. Next chapter we finish the fight between Laxus and Wendy! I hope you are all excited. I know it’s been a long wait, and for that I apologize. I’ve been swamped with working on my other stories and Uni.
> 
> I DO know that there are still some unanswered questions about the mission. It will come with time. Although, for some reason I seem to make Wendy suffer a ton during her fights…
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @ PFWriting for updates on my stories! Or if you want to chat!


	15. Chapter 15: The Second Task, Finale!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Sorry for the long wait, but I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to the fight!
> 
> Updates will continue to be slow throughout the month of November, as University picks up pace and I am participating in NaNoWriMo. If anyone is interested in the status of my Original Work, or are interested in reading any of it, follow me on Twitter at PFWriting for updates! :D
> 
> Please let me know what you think! I did my best to keep everything in character and flowing smoothly, especially with the introduction of the new attacks. But I think it turned out well. 
> 
> Next chapter is the Aftermath. I hope you are all looking forward to that! It will hopefully start to explain a bit of the background story as well as some of the questions remaining from the Flashbacks in the last two chapters.

**Chapter 15: The Second Task, Finale!**

Wendy could feel the magic pouring out from her body. It was draining rapidly, and despite being enveloped within the spiral of flames, she could feel the sweat dripping down her forehead from the strain. Tightening her hands into her fists, she braced herself as she watched the man in front of her prepare for the fight.

This was no time to feel sorry for herself. Not when she was so close, and despite her anxiety from her use of the lacrima in the past and what resulted from it, she knew that this would be her only chance to finish this fight. It was her last chance to prove to everyone that she can defend herself. That she was more than the small, frightened girl that fought on Tenrou island all those years ago.

The fire continued to swirl around her, brushing against her skin harmlessly as it flew higher and higher into the air. The snow covering the ground was all but melted, with the fresh powder from the blizzard never making it close to the rocky surface. There were a few trees scattered about between them, with one even being struck by a rogue lightning bolt.

The fire mixed perfectly with her wind. The elements building upon each other, their strength unrivaled when combined.

With her time limited, she bent forward, extending her arms out behind her. With a yell, she launched herself forward with a burst of flames. The fire shot out of her palms, propelling her towards Laxus at record speeds. As she swung her left fist down, he brought his forearm up in a flash of lightning to block it. Embers and sparks shot out in every direction as she saw him wince, making her grin.

Not wasting any time, she swung her foot up. With a crack, it connected with the side of his chest, causing him to scream and throw her foot away. His eyes flashed as he swung a lightning covered fist towards her, which she just barely managed to dodge.

She jumped back, forcing herself to ignore the shocks of pain wracking her body. Her arm was easily the worst and looking through the flames she could still make out the burnt flesh. She could even still feel the tingle of the lightning coursing through her limb. It was taking all her willpower to just keep herself standing.

Looking back up with a grunt, her eyes widened when she saw Laxus directly in front of her.

“Don’t get distracted, now!”

He once again swung towards her stomach, the lightning building up around his fist making her scramble to get into the air. With a burst of wind, she pushed herself up, the flames whipping around her wildly. But unfortunately, she hadn’t been fast enough, as his fist caught the bottom of her left calf, sending her spiraling out of control.

She attempted to re-correct herself in the air, but it was futile. Twisting herself around as much as possible, she extended her legs out beneath her so that she could attempt to land on her feet. With flailing arms, she braced her knees right before her feet met the rough ground below.

When her feet met the ground, a sharp pain shot up her left leg, making her cry out in pain. Stumbling forward, the flames dissipated around her as she collapsed onto her right knee and grasped the leg. The skin was tender and pressing down on it only made the pain worse. She didn’t know what had happened, but she knew that it couldn’t be good, and when she stood back up to take a couple of tentative steps, she was forced to limp.

She looked up to see Laxus once again watching her from across the clearing. The lightning had not died down in the slightest and the glowing of his eyes made him look menacing. The aura of magic pulsating around him was overwhelming and she knew that the only thing allowing her to resist its force was her own increased aura fighting against it.

With her right arm, left leg, and head, all throbbing in pain, she met his look with a defiant glare. As no words were spoken, the only sounds they could hear were the crack of lightning and the swirling of the wind around them. She did her best to continue forcing herself to ignore the pain, but it only served as a reminder of her limited time.

“You don’t have much left in you, Wendy.”

Despite the distant, his voice was clear, as if he was standing next to her. His glare hadn’t lessened, but she could now make out his unclenched fists and relaxed shoulders. The wooden Fairy Tail amulet still lay on the ground between them.

“You’ve shown me your power. There’s no point in continuing. It’s just going to end up with you injuring yourself even more.”

There it was. Despite all that she had done, he still looked down on her. As if she was weak and unable to take care of herself.

She remained silent for a moment, the tension between the two palpable. There was a small flicker of light in the sky above them, and as both fighters glanced up at it, she realized what it was.

“No.” she growled, her fists clenching as her glare worsened. “We aren’t done yet. I can take care of myself. No one else needs to look down on me anymore.”

Laxus paused, the glow in his eyes dimming down. “Wendy,” he started, “No one thinks that you can’t handle yourself. We are just concerned about you.”

Her eyes widened with fury. She took a step forward, the ground beginning to smoke beneath her feet as the winds grew more intense above. Laxus took a wary step back and clenched his fists again, never taking his eyes off her form. Despite the urge to remain quiet and ignore his words, she knew that she couldn’t hold them back any longer. Not just to him, but to everyone.

“Concerned?!” she exclaimed, the fire beginning to build up around her feet again. “No one bothered to be concerned when I was wanting to help in the GMG, or when I tried repeatedly to show everyone that I have grown up. To prove to everyone that I can help protect the guild just as everyone else has time and time again!”

Her words faded away, and the fire spiraled up her body again. “No one was concerned enough to go look for Natsu.”

Laxus opened his mouth to speak, but Wendy interrupted again before he could continue. As each word was spoken, her anger only continued to rise.

“Everyone still thinks of me as the young, frightened girl from Tenrou. You all still think I’m _weak_.”

At her final word, Laxus froze. She had put as much venom as she could muster behind it, and the result was more than satisfying. His shoulder slumped over, and he had barely begun shaking his head.

“That’s why I left.” she continued, her voice lower. “I thought that if I could show everyone that I can handle myself on missions… If I could handle myself alone, and succeed, then you would all finally see.”

“But I was wrong. No matter what I did, every time I returned to the guild, I was met with the same thing. That’s why I stand here. I’m no longer a child! I beat Lucy, I will defeat you, and then, I’ll beat anyone else who stands in my way.”

_And then… I will have kept my end of the promise._

Laxus looked miserable, an expression that she had never seen before etched across his face, and she could see the conflict in his eyes. It almost made her regret her words. Almost. “Wendy… Please just stop for a moment and think. This isn’t the kind of attitude Natsu would want you-.”

“Don’t tell me what Natsu would want!” she interrupted, the flames ones again bursting out in response to her outburst. Laxus eyes the approaching flames warily. “You don’t know anything. I’ve heard the stories of who you used to be. You only craved power. You thought you were the best. And then you were expelled. All of which you conveniently never shared with me despite being together for a year.”

“And who do you think made me change?” he questioned, making her press her lips together in a thin line. “Natsu made me see the error of my ways. He changed me, and I finally realized the error of my ways.”

Wendy shook her head and waved her hand. “Enough. You don’t know anything. After you trained me, you left. I barely ever saw you anymore. You never once invited me on a mission. Never gave me a chance, just like the rest of them, even though you knew how much I improved.”

“Out of everyone, I thought that you would at least give me a chance…” Wendy trailed off, and as she slowly wiped her hand across her cheek, she was surprised to find her skin wet with tears.

“But I’m done waiting. I’ll prove everyone wrong.”

She launched herself forward, her entire body erupting into bright-red flames. She reached him in an instant, swinging down her arms. “Fire-Sky Dragon’s Wing Attack!”

Laxus was quickly enveloped in an explosion of flames as he let out a pained scream. The ground beneath them trembled from the force of the attack, and before he could react, a burst of wind quickly followed, sending him crashing into a cluster of trees behind him. Wendy didn’t wait and quickly chased after him. He had just pushed himself up onto his feet when she slammed a flaming fist into his jaw.

His head whipped back, and she could immediately make out the seared skin as he stumbled back and fell onto one knee. Using the air to push her into the sky, she flipped forward as she swung a foot down, flames bursting around it. “Fire-Sky Dragon’s Claw!”

Laxus crossed his arms above his head, barely blocking the attack in time. He was barely able to hold himself up against the force of the wind pushing against him, but when the fire soon followed and covered his body in searing flames, his defense shattered, allowing her heel to connect with his shoulder.

The force of the magic being expelled was overwhelming. The earth trembled beneath them, with explosions going off every time an attack connected. Embers covered the sky, while any smoke was quickly whisked into the air by her wind, covering the sky in a blanket of misty-grey.

Laxus grunted as he pushed himself off the ground. She could make out the burnt skin on his jawline and his shoulder through the tattered shirt and jacket. There was blood dripping down both wounds, staining his clothes a dark-red. He was panting, but when he looked back at her he still seemed as dominating as before. The intensity in his eyes not having faded in the slightest.

She gulped as she slightly shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to be doubting herself.

Laxus tilted his head to the side, cracking his neck. She could make out the slight tremble in his shoulder when he did so but compared to her, he was in perfect condition. He slammed his right fist into his opposing palm, lightning covering the skin, and before Wendy could react, he was upon her.

She jumped into the air with a burst of wind. Angling her palms toward the ground, she let a torrent of fire shoot out from her hands, propelling her further. But even though she was moving fast, it was not enough, as Laxus reached her, cocking his fist back. He swung towards her head, a small burst of lightning following his fist. With a swift tilt of her head, she dodged the attack, feeling her skin tingle as the lightning grazed her cheek.

Suddenly, she noticed a flash from her opposite side, and as she turned her head she barely caught a glimpse of his opposing fist before it connected with her side. Letting out a scream of pain, she was flung through the air. Her body spiraled out of control and she lost the sense of the world around her as she slammed into the mountain below at full speed, forming a crater in the earth.

The electricity caused havoc within her body, making her spasm and scream in pain again. His magic raced through her body for minutes, in a seemingly never-ending spiral of torture. It was only as the electricity began to finally fade, that she noticed his presence standing at the edge of the crater. He was cradling the fist that he had hit her with, his knuckles now black and blue.

“Give up, Wendy.”

Her only response was a glare in his direction. Growling defiantly, she planted her fists on the ground and shakily forced herself up. Her breaths were ragged, and she could barely get a full breath of air before a sharp pain cut her off. With trembling legs, she stood up, her brown eyes filled with defiance as they never left his gaze.

“I…” she took a breath, “I will beat you.”

Laxus’ neutral face cracked, and for the first time she could make out the look of disbelief on his face. “How are you still standing?” he muttered before his frown returned. “You’re only going to suffer if we keep going.”

She chose to remain silent, before bending her knees and launching herself forward. Raising her arm, she let the fire and wind coat her fist as she quickly approached him. He quickly braced himself raising his own fist in defense. Lightning shot down from the sky to his closed hand, surrounding him in a bright glow.

“Fire-Sky Dragon’s Iron Fist!” Wendy roared, extending her arm forward at the same time Laxus yelled, “Lightning Dragon’s Iron Fist!”

Their two fists collided, sending a shockwave of magic and the elements in every direction. Both mages pushed down on their opponent, refusing to give in. Wendy gritted her teeth, feeling the searing pain race up her arm, but forced herself to ignore it yet again, only focusing on trying to push more magic into her attack.

With one final yell, Wendy pushed forward, breaking through his attack. Her fist collided with his chest with an explosion, making the lightning mage scream in pain as he was launched away from Wendy. His body hit the ground hard at first, sending him tumbling away as he desperately struggled for a handhold.

Meanwhile, Wendy recovered from the force of the attack, landing carefully on the ground while ensuring to put most of her weight on her uninjured leg. Attempting to flex the fingers in her hand, she found that she was unable to move any of the digits and hissed when the pain multiplied tenfold. She couldn’t feel anything below her elbow, and the burn marks looked worse than before.

Forcing herself to turn away from the limb, she watched the form of Laxus slowly begin to move in front of her. His black undershirt had been ripped to shreds, revealing the bruised and bloodied skin beneath.

He was struggling to take a breath, and as he stumbled onto his feet, he looked towards her with pain-filled eyes, but nonetheless ready to continue. As she watched him with a defiant glare, the pain in her body suddenly doubled, making her gasp out and clutch her chest.

“You are at you’re limit, Wendy.”

Wendy couldn’t reply. The world was slowly beginning to spin, causing her to stumble and try to catch her balance. She didn’t think that there was a single place on her body not in pain. The edge of her vision was starting to go black, and the fire and wind around her were finally beginning to die down.

She was on her last legs, and both knew it.

Gathering as much of her magic as she could, she reached out for the gem hanging around her neck. It was now or never. This was when she needed to show everyone what she was capable of. That she could beat one of the strongest mages in the guild and keep her promise.

Planting her feet on the ground and feeling the heels of her boots dig into the dirt and rock below, she screamed. Fire and wind exploded out of her body, creating a larger tornado around her. It shot into the sky, and the heat spread even farther than before. With her arms flung out to the sides, and fresh fire bursting from her eyes, she turned back towards him. She began to take a deep breath, allowing her chest to expand, ignoring the blaring pain as she began to inhale the winds and fire around her.

She could make out Laxus begin to scramble in front of her, trying to put up any form of defense, and back away, but it was too late.

With one final gulp of fire, she flung her arms back and her head forward. “Fire-Sky Dragon’s Roar!”

The fire and wind were upon him in an instant, and when the attack connected, Wendy could only hear his scream.

Its power was overwhelming, shaking the mountain to its core. The entire sky seemed to be lit up in flames, as trees and rocks went flying in every direction, uprooted from the devastating winds. It was easily bigger than any attack she had ever used before, and the magic power it radiated was overwhelming. It continued for only a few moments, but to Wendy, it seemed like forever.

Eventually, the beam of energy began to die down, and before she could manually stop the spell, it fizzled into nothing. She stood rooted in the same spot, gasping and panting for air. Her arms hung loosely by her sides, as her head hung down, facing the ground. She couldn’t even muster the strength to lift her chin, and before she could stop it, she collapsed to the ground.

Laxus was nowhere to be seen, but where he stood, a large ravine had been carved into the earth. It led all the way to the edge of the mountain, being at least thirty feet wide. She couldn’t help but feel surprised at the power. It was the first time she had ever used the spell, having only thought of it before when she remembered Natsu’s fight versus Hades. And her version was at the very least just as devastating, if not more.

Digging her fingers into the ground, she pushed herself forward. Inch by inch, she slowly made her way towards Laxus’ last position. As she crested the crater, she found his form lying buried in the rocks. His body was burned from head to toe, and she could make out the blood trailing between the rocks on the ground. She could barely make out the slow rise and fall of his chest.

She gulped, a wave of regret immediately washing over her. She hadn’t meant for this to happen. She let herself get carried away, succumbing to all her pent-up anger. All she had wanted was to show everyone else, to show him, that she had grown strong. But how was she supposed to feel when she hurt her own friends in doing so?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a groan from the man in front of her. She watched as he planted his elbow on the ground and slowly pushed himself up, wincing the entire time. When he lifted his head up high enough, he met her eyes, although she couldn’t make out the emotion within.

“That was a good one.” He coughed, “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Wendy knew that he meant it as a joke, but she couldn’t bring herself to smile. With a groan, he let his head and torso fall back against the ground. He only stared up at the peaceful night sky, which was a drastic contrast to the torn up, ruined earth around them. With a frown, she slowly followed his gaze, feeling the tears begin to well up in her eyes as she looked at the stars.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, her voice trembling.

He said nothing, and for a moment she thought that he hadn’t heard her. But before long, he responded with a simple, “I know.”

They continued to lay there in silence. The only sounds around them being the whip of the winds, and the crumbling of the earth around them, but they ignored it all.

Wendy’s vision was fading. She didn’t have long. She blinked sluggishly, and suddenly Laxus was standing above her, one hand wrapped tightly around his chest. She must be out of it worse than she realized, as she hadn’t even heard him come over. A few drops of blood fell from his body, continuing to stain the ground red. And once more, she felt despair at the sight.

“Rest.” He spoke, although he sounded muffled. Wendy attempted to turn her head, but he kneeled and placed a hand on her forehead. “Rest.”

At the repeat of the command, she found it hard to resist, and within moments, she embraced the darkness.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 –** _**(SLIGHTLY UNEDITED VERSION)** _

Wendy let out a loud groan, slowly raising her left hand and delicately feeling around her forehead. Her entire head was wrapped in bandages, making it next to impossible for the half-asleep girl to tell what kind of damage had been done. She couldn't even feel the right side of her body, and no matter how much she willed it, her right arm wouldn't move from its place beside her. Her eyesight was blurry, with the most she could make out being a mesh of tan and brown around her.

A sudden flare of pain erupted in her abdomen, and she let out a blood-curdling scream. It felt as if her insides were being ripped apart while being tossed around in a pit of fire. It was worse than anything she had ever felt before. She was doing all she could to not pass out on the spot from the pain alone.

It seemed that her screaming had caught someone's attention, however, as light suddenly filled the space she was in when someone stepped in beside her. They placed their hands on her shoulders, forcing her back onto the ground and preventing her from squirming.

"Wendy!"

The voice was faint, barely there. She knew that it had come from the figure above her, however, and that worried her. Her hearing had never failed her like this. Ever. Even in the most life-threatening moments, when she was on the brink of death itself, her hearing was always the first thing to recover. With her ability to see impaired, and the world around her muted to the point of being nearly incomprehensible, the fear festering in the pit of her stomach began to grow.

She struggled again, although it was nothing more than a wiggle of her shoulders, only to feel the person above her grasp her tighter. It wasn't for long, however, as soon the feeling of their grasp on her shoulders began to fade. She let out a shuddering breath, which she was only able to tell from the tremble of her chest, and before she knew it, the blurriness above her faded to black.

The next time she awoke, her entire body was numb. Wearily blinking her eyes, she was immediately relieved to find that much of the blurriness had dissipated. She was able to make out the brown burlap that made up the tent around her. There was a dull throbbing in her abdomen, but she forced herself to ignore it for the time being. She pushed herself up onto her elbows slowly, hissing when the pain in her stomach flared up. Her right arm soon followed, making her eyes tear up as she glanced down at the charred flesh.

She had known that her arm was bad but having not taken the time to seriously look at it during the fight, she had missed the severity of the injury. Looking at it now, a wave of nausea hit her. From her wrist to her elbow, there were only splotches of normal skin. The rest was a deep black, and from the lack of feeling in that part of her arm, it would take a while to heal.

Turning away from her injured arm, she grasped the fabric of the mat in her left hand. It was one of the basic sleeping rolls that many of the guild members had brought. She hadn't bothered to bring one for herself, thinking that she wouldn't need to bother with sleeping during the trial. Besides that, the tent was empty, with her only source of warmth being provided by the thick blanket that was wrapped around the lower half of her body.

The flap of the tent was suddenly flung open, and when the person entering noticed that she was awake, they dropped the bowl that they had been holding in their hands. It fell to the floor with a  _clang_ , spilling its contents onto the rocky ground below.

"Wendy!"

Her head immediately flared up in pain. When she hissed, the figure seemed to pick up on her distress as they lowered their voice. "Sorry."

The figure hesitated before moving in and placing a hand on Wendy's shoulder. "How are you feeling? You've been out for a while."

Wendy swallowed a few times to sooth her dry throat. When she spoke, her words were barely more than a whisper. "Everything hurts…" she grunted, "How long has it been?"

"Five days." They squeezed her shoulder, and luckily it was the lesser injured left side. "It really took a lot out of you."

There was silence for a moment, with Wendy laying there attempting to sooth the aching pain. The figure shuffled above her, and a flash of blond shone in front of her eyes. "Lucy?"

Lucy chuckled lowly. "Yeah, it's me."

Wendy pinched her lips together. A sudden flash of guilt hit her. "Oh…"

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, neither of them meeting the other's gaze. Eventually, Lucy looked back up, giving the girl a small smile. "How are you feeling?"

Wendy didn't respond. Not that she didn't want to, but it was more that she didn't know how. It seemed that Lucy picked up on her silence as she shuffled into the tent a bit further. As the flap swung shut behind her, Lucy took a seat beside Wendy's legs, close enough that their thighs were brushing against each other.

"It's alright," Lucy began, reaching up to lift her hair away from her head. When Wendy glanced up, she noticed that the bandages were now gone, leaving only a faint scar behind. "It has already healed."

Wendy hesitated again, but after a moment said, "I'm sorry."

Lucy chuckled softly, "I know."

The pair sat in silence for a few moments. Wendy didn't know what to say after that. She didn't feel as if there really was anything to say. When Lucy suddenly began standing, she glanced at the bigger girl with a start, only to be placated.

"I'm just going to go and get a new bowl of soup for you. Would you like help standing up?"

Wendy nodded, and with a gentle nudge, Lucy placed her hands underneath her shoulder. Pain immediately flared up in right arm, but she pushed through it with a grunt. The arm may hurt, but the pain was spread throughout her entire body. There were plenty of other places screaming in pain to distract her for the time being.

When she was finally standing, Lucy gently let go, but hovered around her in case she fell. Wendy took a tentative step forward, immediately feeling a wave of dizziness wash over her. Before she could fall, she grabbed onto the wooden tent post, and Lucy wrapped her arms underneath her again almost instantly.

"I…I can do it."

"I know you can," Lucy breathed softly; her warm breath hitting Wendy in the face. "Although, it's better to be safe than sorry."

Wendy didn't argue. With the world spinning around her, she wasn't sure that she would have been able to keep herself upright, let alone standing. She shut her eyes tight. Her head was pounding, and it was only when the pain began to fade away that it also began to dissipate.

After a few minutes, Wendy reopened her eyes. "I think I got it now."

Lucy slowly backed away, gently removing her arms from under the younger girl's shoulders. She remained close, and Wendy found herself suddenly thankful for the girl's presence. Tears quickly began to build up once more, although for once it wasn't due to the pain. With a sniffle, she blinked them away.

Delicately placing one foot in front of the other, she began walking out of the tent. She offered a quiet thank you to Lucy when she lifted the flap of the tent for her. The animated chatter from the crowd around her hit her like a wave. Wendy immediately winced, closing her eyes and raising her arms in a desperate attempt to block out the noise.

It seemed that she got her wish, as the crowd quickly died down around her. She didn't know why, but when she slowly reopened her eyes, all their eyes were on her. Wendy wrapped her arms around her stomach, holding herself tight. They were silent, and she was growing more self-conscious as the silence continued.

"Wendy!"

Happy's voice broke through the silence, and Wendy was barely able to turn before he slammed into her chest. The impact brought a fresh new wave of pain, but she forced herself to ignore it. She hugged the cat in return, frowning when she heard his muffled sobs. Charla stood on the ground in front of her, clearly having followed Happy over. From the frown on her face, and paws on her hips, the Exceed didn't look to pleased either.

"Happy…"

He looked up at her words, cheeks wet with tears. "I thought you wouldn't wake up!"

Lucy stepped forward from behind her, glaring at the cat. "I already told you that she would. She just needed time to rest."

Happy turned towards the blond, the tears disappearing from his eyes and a mischievous smile appearing. "You lie too much, Lucy. I didn't know if I could trust you."

Lucy's glare worsened as she snatched Happy away from Wendy. "Oh yeah?" She pinched the cat's cheeks, making him wail in pain. "Let's see about that."

A ghost of a smile brushed across Wendy's face as she watched the two interact. Happy had probably been attached to Lucy's hip since Tenrou. When she heard Charla clearing her throat, she ignored Happy's cries.

"Hi Charla—"

Before she could utter anything more, Charla summoned her wings and flew up to Wendy's face, placing a paw on her forehead. "How foolish can you be?"

She didn't reply. The scrutinizing gaze was one that she had been on the receiving end of for many years. Yet, even though she had grown so much, she still found herself shrinking beneath it.

"You scared me half to death. What were you thinking when you tried using so much magic? You could have killed yourself or Laxus."

"I—I'm sorry," she replied meekly. Thinking back on Charla's words, her eyebrows furrowed. "How do you know what happened?"

"That would be because of me, my dear."

Craning her head around, she noticed the master's small form. Although, he wasn't alone. Gajeel and Gray stood behind him, both sporting all kinds of different bumps, bruises, and cuts. If she had to guess, Gray looked slightly worse than her fellow dragon slayer. Erza and Mira stood close behind them, looking pristine in their usual outfits.

And finally, Laxus stood behind them all. He had a few bandages wrapped around his upper chest, and one wrapped around his head, but otherwise looked fine. She only met his eyes for a moment before turning away, unable to hold his gaze any longer.

Makarov walked over, eyeing her wearily. "How do you feel?"

"I—I'm alright, I suppose."

"Good." He placed a hand under his chin as he nodded slowly. "Although, I suppose I should explain myself."

He flicked his hand, and above Wendy a lacrima expanded until a screen appeared. Though it looked a little blurry, she could clearly make out what was shown. The clearing where she had fought was destroyed, with trees uprooted and the earth jagged and uneven. The never-ending snow had seemingly filled the crater, as it didn't look as deep as she remembered it being.

"The S-Classes mages, along with myself, planted lacrima around the area you would all be fighting at. I thought it would be a good idea for the rest of the guild to be able to watch."

Realization quickly settled in. "Everyone?"

"Yes." Makarov dug around in his pocket for a moment. "Everyone watched your fight with Laxus, which now leads me to ask." He pulled out a familiar red gemstone, and Wendy immediately reached up to her neck, only to find it gone. "About how you found this."

She immediately froze, suddenly feeling small with all the eyes on her. "I—I…"

Luckily, it seemed that the master had taken notice of her anxiousness, as he glanced quickly around the room. He tucked the gem back into his pocket, closing his eyes with a slight huff. "Never mind. We shall talk more about it later."

Wendy sighed a breath of relief, although the feeling was short-lived as everyone crowded around her. Lucy placed a hand across her shoulder, and she quickly took the opportunity to lean into the older girl's embrace.

Erza was the first one to speak, giving her a small smile despite the sharp edge in her gaze. "Wendy, it's nice to see you up. How do you feel?"

"Fine," she replied meekly. Even after all these years, the redhead never failed to intimidate.

"That's good." Erza glanced briefly at the master before looking back at her. "Take this time to rest. The fight took a lot out of you. Your magic reserves are almost non-existent now."

Wendy knew that her words were true. Standing here, she couldn't feel the typical sensation of magic flowing throughout her. Her sensation and control of the wind above was low. So low, that she couldn't even tell which way it was flowing.

Wendy just nodded in response, and Erza took a small step back. Gray and Gajeel both shuffled beside the redhead, both looking as if they wanted to say something, but were unsure of what. Mira just gave her a soft smile, crossing her arms across her chest as she watched from beside the master. Despite all their stares, none stood out more than Laxus' who has only watched her in silence.

After what seemed like an eternity, Wendy gently leaned her head against Lucy's shoulder, closing her eyes. "W—What happened?"

When no one responded, she slowly opened one eye. No one was looking at her any longer, but instead at Laxus. The man sighed before standing up, being careful not to move his upper body too much.

"Once you depleted all your magic, you fell unconscious. I just brought you here afterward."

Wendy muttered softly in acknowledgment. Despite many of the others seemingly accepting his words, the sharp look he gave her made her believe that there was more. That feeling was only reassured when she noticed the same look being given to her from the master. Even from here, in her weakened state, she could feel the sudden pull from the gem in his pocket. It was the first time in years that it wasn't around her neck, and she was growing more desperate to get it back.

Pushing herself away from Lucy, she attempted to take a step forward, only for her foot to get caught. She fell forward but was luckily caught by both Erza and Lucy before she could hit the ground. Her chest was aching, making her suddenly gasp for air. Before she could do anything else, a sharp pain suddenly replaced the dull ache. She cried out in pain, and Erza and Lucy quickly laid her out against her back.

"Wendy, what's wrong!?"

Erza's voice was muffled, and Wendy could only gasp as tears filled her eyes. The pain was excruciating, and she desperately clutched at her chest with her good hand. A hand was placed on her shoulder, although she was too busy being consumed by the pain to see who it was. Suddenly, just as fast as the pain came, it was gone, and Wendy was left gasping for breath on the ground.

"It's just as I thought…" Makarov spoke again, and Wendy finally turned up to find him standing just a few inches away. He had been the one to touch her shoulder, but she was able to make out a faint glow coming from underneath his palm. Next thing she knew, he removed his hand from her shoulder, and pain immediately returned. She writhed and screamed out in pain once more, until the pain dissipated once Makarov touched her again.

"It would seem that your magic has merged, although I've only experienced this once before," he continued, carefully placing the gem around her neck. "We will take a visit to Porlyusica upon our return to the city. She will be able to explain in better detail."

Wendy sighed softly as her body sagged in relief. Once the gem sat against her skin, she almost felt normal again. Turning back towards Makarov, she nodded in acknowledgment. "Where else have you seen this?"

The man paused, tapping his foot on the ground a few times. "Perhaps that it would be best if I answered that question in a more… private place."

Questions still flowed throughout her mind, but Wendy accepted it nonetheless. If he thought that it needed to wait, then it shall. "Alright."

Wendy slowly pulled herself back up, noticing Erza share a few hushed words with the master as she did. Lucy patted her shoulder lightly, and when she turned to look at her, she only received a small smile in return. From the slight quiver in Lucy's lips, she wasn't sure that she was going to like what came next.

"Well then," Makarov cleared his throat, turning to address the entire guild. "Now that our last candidate has awoken, I suppose that I can discuss the next step for the Trials."

Wendy slightly perked up at that but winced and settled back down at the sharp spike of pain in the back of her head.

"The winner has already been decided," Makarov sent her a sideways glance, "Which means that the rest of the contestants have been disqualified."

Murmurs broke out through the crowd, with some yelling mixed in. Wendy watched the master's face for any kind of sign. A sign that she was the one who had been chosen, and yet, she found nothing.

It didn't take her long to come to the proper conclusion. She placed her palms against the ground, pushing herself slightly away from Lucy. A look of sadness flashed across the girl's face, but she ignored it. "I have been disqualified?"

Makarov gave her a slightly pitying look, which didn't serve to help her sudden anger. "I'm sorry, my dear. I'm afraid I can't allow you to continue in your current state."

"I—I can still compete! I'm awake now, aren't I?" Wendy immediately knew that her words would have no effect. Despite the resistant edge that had overtaken her voice, she knew that it was futile. Just getting to this point had taken almost all her energy. There was no way she would even be able to cast a simple spell, let alone fight in another match. But her pride wouldn't allow her to sit quietly.

Makarov raised his hands. "I understand your anger, Wendy, but it isn't your decision."

Her eyes fell to the ground, but before she could respond, a hand was placed on her shoulder. Tracing the limb from its fingers, then to its elbow and shoulder, she finally met Lucy's gaze. "Wendy, please don't fight the decision. We just don't want to see you hurt yourself anymore."

Despite her racing thoughts, she couldn't get herself to reply to the blond. There were so many things that she wanted to say, and yet, at the same time didn't have to. The supportive looks that she received from everyone around her confirmed that. Why should she force herself to continue fighting? When did she lose sight of what it meant to be a Fairy Tail mage?

Tears burned in her eyes, and she nodded. Just as she felt the tears begin to slip down her cheeks, Lucy pulled her into a hug, tucking Wendy's head into her shoulder. The older girl's embrace felt so warm…so nice. It had been so long since she had just sat in another person's presence and just embraced their warmth and comfort. So long since she had stopped trying to fight.

She quickly lost track of how long they remained there, but at some point, Lucy had gently coaxed the girl into sitting on the ground. When they finally separated, the crowd around them had dispersed, leaving the two alone. Wendy dug her palms into her cheeks, the taste of salt still dancing on her lips.

"Feel better?"

She nodded, sniffing lightly. "Yeah…"

Lucy grabbed her shoulders, offering a bright smile. "I'm glad."

They remained there for a time longer. Wendy did her best to remove the evidence that she had been crying. Her eyes still stung from the recent tears, but no amount of rubbing was going to get rid of that.

"Are you hungry?" Lucy questioned, turning her torso to the side. When she turned back, there was a bowl in her hands, which had a trail of steam emitting from the top. Wendy immediately picked up its wonderful smell and within moments she was practically salivating. Lucy giggled softly when she lunged for the bowl and ripped it from the blonde's arms before beginning to slurp it down. "I'll take that as a yes."

Lucy only watched as she continued to down the soup. It was nothing special, just plain chicken soup, yet it had to be one of the most delicious things she had ever tasted. Although, perhaps that was what any type of food tasted like when you haven't eaten for so long. Laxus finally took a step forward, drawing a quick glance from Wendy before she returned to her soup.

"It has been a long few days, and I know that I am looking forward to returning to the guild."

A few guild members nodded or murmured in affirmation. Most of the cavern had been packed up, as many people wore backpacks loaded with different goods and possessions. It seemed like all they had left to do was announce the winner. Makarov took that as his queue to finally continue, raising his arms up into the air.

"And with that," he paused, receiving a few groans as he did so. "I would like to announce the end of the S-Class Trials."

Makarov gazed around the cave, meeting each of the candidate's eyes. Wendy found that he held hers a bit longer than the rest.

"For those of you who did not pass, do not fret, there will always be next year." He turned towards Gajeel, who stood beside him with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk etched across his face. "Until then, let us celebrate the success of our newest S-Class mage. Gajeel Redfox."

The entire cavern exploded with roars and screams. Wendy winced and was forced to cover her ears with her hands. Gajeel was smiling on stage, and when she looked closer, she was sure that she spotted Levy cheering from the bottom of the stage, louder than anyone else.

Despite the sour taste that was left in her mouth because of the loss, Wendy couldn't help but feel relieved. Relieved that for the first time in years, she was finally back where she belonged. No longer would she have to continue this self-imposed mission. Surrounded by all her family, there was a warmth that she had long forgotten. One that couldn't be provided by the fire that raged inside her no matter how desperately she tried.

She met Laxus' eyes, and no longer was there any resentment held in her gaze. Instead, loyalty, sadness, and joy all managed to overtake her. And when she felt Lucy's hand tighten on her shoulder, she couldn't stop the tears from starting to pour down her face. Sobs wracked through her body, and she buried her head beneath the girl's arms, melting in her arms as she listened to the soft reassurances that Lucy offered in return.

Many questions were still left unanswered, some that would undoubtedly take longer to find the answer to than others, but still, for the first time for as long as she could remember, she found herself filled with hope.

_THE END?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, when I first set off to write this story, I had something completely different in mind. Natsu's death was supposed to be the key focus point alongside Wendy, as the event that drove this story, and yet, Wendy somehow quickly found herself becoming the only key figure to this tale. Yet, because of that result, I feel that the story has ended up being even better than I could have ever imagined.
> 
> Despite Natsu sacrificing himself, it was never solely supposed to be about him. It was always meant to be about Wendy's growth as a character. I'll admit, Natsu was most likely never going to be making a return in the main story. Why that is, well, perhaps I'll save it for an epilogue or side-story…
> 
> I went through a lot of changes with Wendy's character throughout the process of writing the story. Originally, she was supposed to be this closed off, bad-ass character, yet, that just isn't who she is. She is more emotional than that. She cares about her guildmates. That was the difficult part in writing this, as he personality took a turn where it was close to no longer being Wendy's. I did my best to keep the portrayal of her character as real as possible, and I will say that I am happy with the result.
> 
> Laxus was never going to be in this story. Period. But after Chapter 3 or 4, I found myself lacking a key mentor character, someone that would accommodate Wendy's newfound personality. Laxus ended up being that result. I am incredibly happy with the dynamic between the two, despite many questions being left unanswered.
> 
> Now, I'll admit, this was never going to be the definite end of the tale. There was a bit more that I had in mind, yet as I found myself writing this chapter, I couldn't help but think that perhaps this is where it was meant to finish. The future of the tale is uncertain, just as Wendy's road ahead is. This fight was supposed to be a knock-back into reality, and I hope I did it justice.
> 
> I would like to seriously, seriously, seriously, thank everyone who has stuck with me this far. It has been a long road up until this point, and I am sorry for the delays in posting. Some real-life tragedies really kept me off writing for the past few months, but I have finally started to get back in gear.
> 
> Perhaps, just perhaps there is still a bit more to explore. If I do, I think that it will be an Epilogue (Or Two), but despite that, I seriously do not think that there is any more of this story that needs to be told. It's been a roller coaster, but I can say for sure that this has been my best, and favorite piece of writing yet.
> 
> Seriously. Thank you all once again for the love and support. You all don't know how much it means to me.
> 
> With that, I shall say for possibly last time in this story, Until next time!
> 
>  
> 
> Follow me on Twitter – PFWriting for updates on my work.

**Author's Note:**

> How are you all doing? Hopefully you enjoyed the start of this new story! I've been working on this for a while, so I'm happy to finally release it. Along with this, I'm probably working on around 5 to 6 other stories at the moment, haha. Most of them are still in the planning phase.
> 
> This story will be a NaWen fanfic, which is my favorite pairing in Fairy Tail.
> 
> Ages are slightly altered. Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and the rest of the mages around their age are at or around 18 years old. Wendy is 12 at the start of the fic.
> 
> Make sure you leave a review and let me know what you think! The reviews always make my day! Next chapter should be out soon.


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